Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Trims Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,838 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 619 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.2% of Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Twin Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.2% during the second quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 33,689 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,866,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the period. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 17.4% during the 2nd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 24,181 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $17,847,000 after acquiring an additional 3,585 shares in the last quarter. Souders Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. Souders Financial Advisors now owns 9,239 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,819,000 after acquiring an additional 769 shares during the period. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,654 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,697,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on META. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.2%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $602.01 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $710.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $706.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $1.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.59, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.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 company posted $6.03 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.28%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.97, for a total transaction of $333,391.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.00, for a total transaction of $326,227.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 6,924 shares in the company, valued at $4,369,044. This represents a 6.95% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 13,359 shares of company stock worth $9,689,566 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms 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.