Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stake Lowered by Parthenon LLC

Parthenon LLC lowered its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 71,609 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 415 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 6.0% of Parthenon LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Parthenon LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $52,854,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,990,544,000. Amundi grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 23.5% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 7,733,061 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,111,050,000 after buying an additional 1,470,070 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.8% during 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 buying an additional 1,255,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $571,086,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $751.67 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $741.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $696.13. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year 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.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share 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%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.03 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. 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 business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $870.00 to $825.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 20th. HSBC raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $811.00 to $837.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Needham & Company LLC raised Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $829.66.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total transaction of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 84,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. This trade represents a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 213,663 shares of company stock worth $164,595,807. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.