Uptick Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Uptick Partners LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Uptick Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $988,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its position in 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 worth $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,184,163,000 after purchasing an additional 400,927 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,977,361,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,546 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the 1st 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 valued at $7,229,553,000 after purchasing an additional 536,160 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 1st 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on META shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $870.00 to $825.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 20th. JMP Securities raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Benchmark raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $829.66.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.37, for a total transaction of $382,176.03. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 28,275 shares in the company, valued at $20,820,861.75. The trade was a 1.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.97, for a total value of $333,391.05. Following the sale, the director owned 7,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,697,760.59. This represents a 5.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 214,182 shares of company stock worth $164,951,541 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $738.36 on Friday. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $742.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $691.34. The company has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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 7.60%.

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.