City State Bank Grows Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

City State Bank grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 29.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,423 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 558 shares during the period. City State Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maseco LLP purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $54,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the 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 owned 7,947 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,697,760.59. This represents a 5.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the 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 owned 27,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,900,268. This trade represents a 1.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 90,609 shares of company stock valued at $69,806,640. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $840.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $825.00 target price (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $627.32 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $733.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $701.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.71, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued 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 net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $6.03 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.