Ethic Inc. Buys 8,390 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Ethic Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 153,146 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,390 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 2.0% of Ethic Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $112,352,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.2% during the second quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,230 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,384,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. BlueChip Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.5% during the second quarter. BlueChip Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,426 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,052,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 34.5% in the 2nd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 705 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,125 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,045,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated 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. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,086.00 to $1,117.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer cut shares of Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $915.00 to $850.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Four equities research 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, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $648.35 on Friday. The firm 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. 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 current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $738.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $697.96.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The company’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.03 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.28%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.00, for a total transaction of $390,807.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 27,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,900,268. This trade represents a 1.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 27th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,965,078.06. The trade was a 6.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 198,335 shares of company stock worth $153,047,009. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.