Boston Trust Walden Corp Lowers Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Boston Trust Walden Corp lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 91,722 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,401 shares during the quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $67,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pachira Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the second quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the second quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,223 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,641,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the second quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,302,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Myecfo LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the second quarter. Myecfo LLC now owns 776 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $573,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kooman & Associates increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the second quarter. Kooman & Associates now owns 544 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $402,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $738.36 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $742.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $690.10. The firm has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The business's revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid 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 was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 7.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $721.30, for a total value of $372,912.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 8,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,113,017.50. The trade was a 5.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.97, for a total transaction of $333,391.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,947 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,697,760.59. This trade represents a 5.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 214,182 shares of company stock worth $164,951,541. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on META. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $829.66.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.