Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Bought by Applied Capital LLC FL

Applied Capital LLC FL raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,483 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 4.0% of Applied Capital LLC FL’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Applied Capital LLC FL’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,523,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $28,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Maseco LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $54,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $810.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $829.66.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.1%

META opened at $732.17 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The company has a fifty day moving average of $746.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $686.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.51, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.16 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders 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 payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $707.85, for a total transaction of $367,374.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 28,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,381,832.90. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $713.34, for a total transaction of $368,796.78. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 8,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,414,353.28. This represents a 5.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 213,146 shares of company stock valued at $164,196,453 over the last 90 days. 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.