Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,181 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 493 shares during the quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 102.6% during the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $184,059,219.75. This trade represents a 20.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total value of $9,062,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,394,225. This trade represents a 86.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 214,182 shares of company stock worth $164,955,168. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $710.56 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $753.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $675.45. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on META. Zacks Research lowered Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Benchmark lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho set a $925.00 target price on Meta Platforms and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $830.02.

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.