D.A. Davidson & CO. Acquires 3,171 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 82,822 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,171 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $61,131,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares during the period. 1776 Wealth LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 137.2% during the first quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC now owns 1,167 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $673,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,013 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,889,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Finally, Waterfront Wealth Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.9% during the first quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 716 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $413,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $648.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $738.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $696.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.03 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.97, for a total transaction of $333,391.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,947 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,697,760.59. The trade was a 5.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.00, for a total transaction of $390,807.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,900,268. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 198,335 shares of company stock worth $153,047,009. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, July 28th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $825.00 price objective (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $840.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Profile

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.