Leavell Investment Management Inc. Buys 424 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Leavell Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,700,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the second 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 in the last quarter. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the 2nd quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maseco LLP bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $54,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.00, for a total value of $390,807.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 27,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,900,268. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.97, for a total value of $333,391.05. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,697,760.59. The trade was a 5.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 90,609 shares of company stock valued at $69,806,640 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of META stock opened at $627.32 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The business has a 50-day moving average of $733.43 and a 200 day moving average of $701.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98.

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, 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 business had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.03 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on META shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $920.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $825.00 target price (down from $900.00) 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 issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $827.60.

Meta Platforms 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.