Meta Platforms, Inc. $META is Cercano Management LLC’s 6th Largest Position

Cercano Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 17.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 188,471 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 40,942 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 4.0% of Cercano Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Cercano Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $139,109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $44,119,937,000 after buying an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at $2,990,544,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 23.5% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 7,733,061 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,111,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,470,070 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,255,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $571,086,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total transaction of $365,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,476,894.45. The trade was a 7.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $429,501.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 6,035 shares in the company, valued at $3,570,306. The trade was a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 40,923 shares of company stock valued at $26,126,437 over the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Loop Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $980.00 price target (up previously from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $810.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $870.00 price objective (down previously from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $823.93.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.8%

Shares of META opened at $636.22 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.60 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $691.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $706.84.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.03 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.