Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stock Holdings Lifted by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,033,530 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 54,963 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.7% of Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $762,838,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew 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 valued at $44,119,937,000 after acquiring an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at $2,990,544,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532,568 shares during the period. Amundi increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $840.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson set a $825.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $920.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating 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-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $823.93.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total transaction of $6,935,793.90. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,415 shares in the company, valued at $1,432,843.65. This represents a 82.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total value of $365,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,476,894.45. The trade was a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 41,959 shares of company stock worth $26,759,811. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $647.48 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.60, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $683.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $706.56. 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 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. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.03 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 payout ratio is 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.