Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Beech Hill Advisors Inc.

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 27.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 11,984 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 4,549 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 4.0% of Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,845,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $2,990,544,000. Amundi raised its position in Meta Platforms by 23.5% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 7,733,061 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,111,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,470,070 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the first 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 during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $571,086,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.97, for a total value of $333,391.05. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,697,760.59. The trade was a 5.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,756 shares in the company, valued at $20,900,268. This trade represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 198,335 shares of company stock valued at $153,047,009. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $915.00 to $850.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Loop Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $980.00 target price (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $648.35 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.64, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $738.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $696.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 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 period last year, the business earned $6.03 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.28%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.