Baron Wealth Management LLC Has $1.16 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Baron Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 64.8% during the second quarter, now holding 1,572 shares valued at approximately $1.16 million.
• Insiders at Meta Platforms sold a total of 257,922 shares in the last ninety days, contributing to a 4.47% decrease in COO Javier Olivan's stake.
• Equities research analysts have raised their target prices on Meta Platforms, with some reaching as high as $920, reflecting a generally positive outlook for the company's stock.

Baron Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 64.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,572 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 618 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.4% of Baron Wealth Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Baron Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 53.6% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on META shares. Roth Capital boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Three 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $826.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of META stock traded down $1.87 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $778.38. 22,494,703 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,174,566. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $747.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $665.93. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.18, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.24. 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 (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.16 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total transaction of $14,018,663.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares of the company's stock, valued at $64,343,464.11. The trade was a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 257,922 shares of company stock valued at $196,412,792 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Company 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.