NatWest Group plc Sells 465 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

NatWest Group plc decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,182 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 465 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 5.5% of NatWest Group plc’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. NatWest Group plc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $18,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $44,119,937,000 after acquiring an additional 59,766,000 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,990,544,000. Amundi boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,470,070 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,255,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $571,086,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 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 $402,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 32,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,533,150. This trade represents a 1.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. This trade represents a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 90,609 shares of company stock valued at $69,806,640 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $627.32 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $733.43 and its 200-day moving average is $701.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.03 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on META. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,086.00 to $1,117.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Citizens Jmp raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut 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, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.