Appleton Partners Inc. MA Acquires 697 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Appleton Partners Inc. MA boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 32,606 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 697 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.7% of Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $24,066,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the second 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 holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,184,163,000 after acquiring an additional 400,927 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,977,361,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255,546 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $5,787,329,000 after acquiring an additional 247,850 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on META shares. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial set a $880.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $811.00 to $837.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $830.68.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of META opened at $715.70 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.91, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $750.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $680.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,799 shares in the company, valued at $1,394,225. This trade represents a 86.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 212,681 shares of company stock valued at $163,863,761. Corporate 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.