Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. Boosts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,132 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 232 shares during the period. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,050,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.0% during the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% in 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 period. JMG Financial Group Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth $284,000. Infusive Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.7% in 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 period. Finally, Spirepoint Private Client LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% in 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6%

META opened at $627.32 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $733.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $701.18.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.97, for a total transaction of $333,391.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,947 shares in the company, valued at $5,697,760.59. This represents a 5.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $749.57, for a total transaction of $387,527.69. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 7,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,965,078.06. The trade was a 6.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 90,609 shares of company stock worth $69,806,640 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on META. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $915.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $827.60.

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.