Sterneck Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Sterneck Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,213 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 57 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.7% of Sterneck Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Sterneck Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after acquiring an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $2,990,544,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 712.2% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,462,589,000 after acquiring an additional 2,225,186 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 23.5% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 7,733,061 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,111,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,470,070 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,977,361,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,546 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $741.50, for a total value of $384,838.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 29,832 shares in the company, valued at $22,120,428. This trade represents a 1.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $757.47, for a total transaction of $352,223.55. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,371,837.64. This represents a 5.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 214,182 shares of company stock worth $164,955,168 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on META shares. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $830.02.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ META opened at $727.05 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $753.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $673.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.60%.

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.