Guardian Asset Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Guardian Asset Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,850 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 232 shares during the quarter. Guardian Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maseco LLP acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $54,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total value of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 237,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. This trade represents a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total transaction of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. This trade represents a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 181,971 shares of company stock valued at $140,461,589 in the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $648.35 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business’s 50 day moving average is $738.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $699.34. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.64, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $6.03 EPS. The firm’s quarterly 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 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on META shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $915.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer lowered Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Loop Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $980.00 target price (up previously from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Four research 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 data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $827.60.

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.