Meta Platforms, Inc. $META is Carnegie Investment Counsel’s 3rd Largest Position

Carnegie Investment Counsel lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 161,961 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,173 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.4% of Carnegie Investment Counsel’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $119,543,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the 2nd 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 buying an additional 59,766,000 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,990,544,000. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 23.5% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 7,733,061 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,111,050,000 after purchasing an additional 1,470,070 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,977,361,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $571,086,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $648.35 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $738.28 and a 200-day moving average of $699.34. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.64, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly 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. 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 quarterly revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.03 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were given 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 payout ratio is currently 9.28%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 84,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,343,464.11. This represents a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 181,971 shares of company stock worth $140,461,589. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on META shares. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $870.00 price objective (down previously from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $837.00 to $802.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock 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.