Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Purchases 22,005 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 658,953 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,005 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.6% of Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $486,367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $2,990,544,000. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 23.5% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 7,733,061 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,111,050,000 after buying an additional 1,470,070 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted 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 valued at $8,977,361,000 after buying an additional 1,255,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $571,086,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $609.46 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $713.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $706.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.20. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $6.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $767.16, for a total transaction of $398,156.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 30,870 shares in the company, valued at $23,682,229.20. This trade represents a 1.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,359 shares of company stock valued at $9,689,566. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on META shares. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $810.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $950.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $827.60.

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.