First County Bank CT Sells 178 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

First County Bank CT trimmed its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,837 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 178 shares during the quarter. First County Bank CT’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pachira Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the second quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Shelton Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the second quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,302,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Myecfo LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the second quarter. Myecfo LLC now owns 776 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $573,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Kooman & Associates boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the second quarter. Kooman & Associates now owns 544 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the first quarter. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 752 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $980.00 price objective (up previously from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Mizuho set a $925.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $830.02.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $748.72, for a total transaction of $387,088.24. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,506,666.72. This represents a 4.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $757.47, for a total value of $352,223.55. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,412 shares in the company, valued at $6,371,837.64. The trade was a 5.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 214,182 shares of company stock valued at $164,955,168. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $710.56 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $753.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $674.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

About Meta Platforms

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.