Wallington Asset Management LLC Purchases 800 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Wallington Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,912 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 3.5% of Wallington Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Wallington Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $25,030,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 84,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. This represents a 17.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 214,182 shares of company stock worth $164,946,219 in the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial set a $880.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $830.68.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.8%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $705.30 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $752.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $678.77. 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 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. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.525 dividend. 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 payout ratio 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.