Hartford Financial Management Inc. Lowers Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Hartford Financial Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,362 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 363 shares during the period. Hartford Financial Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,220,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after acquiring an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,184,163,000 after buying an additional 400,927 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,977,361,000 after buying an additional 1,255,546 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 12,543,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,229,553,000 after buying an additional 536,160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,041,171 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,787,329,000 after acquiring an additional 247,850 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $900.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $810.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $827.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total transaction of $9,062,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,799 shares in the company, valued at $1,394,225. This trade represents a 86.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,612 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $782.13, for a total transaction of $2,042,923.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 7,609 shares in the company, valued at $5,951,227.17. This represents a 25.56% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 90,609 shares of company stock worth $69,806,640. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6%

META opened at $627.32 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $733.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $701.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.03 earnings per share. 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. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.