Stephens Investment Management Group LLC Acquires 181 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 34.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 705 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $520,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 12.0% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,498,000 after buying an additional 1,019 shares during the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the first quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. JMG Financial Group Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $284,000. Infusive Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.7% during the first quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,620 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,614,000 after purchasing an additional 2,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spirepoint Private Client LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the second quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,011,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $769.38, for a total value of $12,192,364.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total value of $9,062,850.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,799 shares in the company, valued at $1,394,225. The trade was a 86.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 198,335 shares of company stock worth $153,047,009 over the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on META. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $870.00 target price (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $837.00 to $802.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson set a $825.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $648.35 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $738.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $697.96. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.03 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date 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.