Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Guinness Asset Management LTD

Guinness Asset Management LTD trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 74,013 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,519 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.0% of Guinness Asset Management LTD’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $54,625,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 137.2% in the first quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC now owns 1,167 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $673,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the period. Smart Money Group LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 20.4% in the first quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 2,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spear Holdings RSC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth approximately $37,463,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on META. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $810.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $950.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $827.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $656.00, for a total transaction of $339,152.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 7,441 shares in the company, valued at $4,881,296. This trade represents a 6.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.97, for a total transaction of $333,391.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,697,760.59. The trade was a 5.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 75,798 shares of company stock valued at $58,347,026 over the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.7%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $618.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $728.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $700.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.03 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.28%.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.