Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. Has $1.25 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 16.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,695 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.3% of Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in 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. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,990,544,000. Amundi raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 23.5% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 7,733,061 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,111,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,470,070 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 valued at $8,977,361,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $571,086,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $870.00 to $825.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 20th. Zacks Research raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $829.66.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.0%

NASDAQ META opened at $751.67 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $741.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $696.13. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.During the same period last year, the company posted $6.03 EPS. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $749.57, for a total value of $387,527.69. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 7,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,965,078.06. This trade represents a 6.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.37, for a total value of $382,176.03. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 28,275 shares in the company, valued at $20,820,861.75. This represents a 1.80% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 213,663 shares of company stock valued at $164,595,807. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.