Divergent Planning LLC Purchases New Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Divergent Planning LLC recently acquired 582 shares of Meta Platforms, Inc., valued at approximately $430,000, indicating growing institutional interest in the company.
• Meta Platforms reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $7.14 for the last quarter, significantly beating the consensus estimate of $5.75, with a revenue increase of 21.6% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525, which will be paid on September 29th, representing an annualized yield of 0.3%.

Divergent Planning LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 582 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $430,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% during the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 53.6% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded down $1.87 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $778.38. 22,494,703 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,174,566. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $747.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $666.00.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.16 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on META. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $920.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $826.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $767.16, for a total transaction of $398,156.04. Following the sale, the insider owned 30,870 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,682,229.20. This represents a 1.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $757.47, for a total transaction of $391,611.99. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 11,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,377,618.20. The trade was a 4.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 257,922 shares of company stock worth $196,412,792. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.