Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Sells 133 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,016 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 133 shares during the quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $22,893,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Maseco LLP bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $54,000. Finally, Piscataqua Savings Bank lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 433.3% during the 2nd quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. HSBC upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $980.00 price objective (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.7%

NASDAQ META opened at $648.35 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $738.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $697.96. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The business had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. 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 currently 9.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.00, for a total value of $390,807.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 27,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,900,268. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 198,335 shares of company stock valued at $153,047,009 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.