Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Position Lowered by Ascent Group LLC

Ascent Group LLC lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.2% 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 50,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 594 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.4% of Ascent Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $37,115,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,184,163,000 after acquiring an additional 400,927 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the first 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 buying an additional 1,255,546 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 12,543,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,229,553,000 after purchasing an additional 536,160 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,041,171 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,787,329,000 after purchasing an additional 247,850 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on META shares. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upgraded Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Four equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $830.68.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $705.30 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $752.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $678.77. The stock has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.60%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total value of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $184,059,219.75. This represents a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,343,464.11. This represents a 17.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 214,182 shares of company stock valued at $164,946,219 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.