Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Has $88.80 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 120,313 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,819 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $88,802,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the second quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,506 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,587,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,223 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Myecfo LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Myecfo LLC now owns 776 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $573,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shelton Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total value of $6,935,793.90. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,432,843.65. The trade was a 82.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total value of $365,610.00. Following the sale, the director owned 7,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,476,894.45. The trade was a 7.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 40,923 shares of company stock valued at $26,007,416 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $640.87 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day moving average of $680.90 and a 200-day moving average of $706.54.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.03 earnings per share. The firm’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, equities research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 9.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Zacks Research cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $915.00 to $850.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Loop Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $980.00 price target (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $823.93.

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.