Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY Purchases 694 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 4.0% since the second quarter, now holding shares worth approximately $13.34 million.
• Several analysts have recently upgraded Meta's stock rating and target prices, with a consensus target price of $826.05 and an "outperform" rating from firms like Wedbush and Citizens JMP.
• Meta Platforms announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 to be paid on September 29, with an annualized yield of 0.3% and a dividend payout ratio of 7.60%.

Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,067 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 694 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.6% of Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,990,544,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 712.2% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,462,589,000 after buying an additional 2,225,186 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,162,918,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 23.5% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 7,733,061 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $4,111,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,470,070 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Citizens Jmp raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. HSBC upgraded Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $826.05.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.7%

NASDAQ META traded down $13.22 on Monday, hitting $765.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,659,363 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,694,495. The firm has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.70, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.24. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $747.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $666.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $757.47, for a total value of $391,611.99. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 11,060 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,377,618.20. This represents a 4.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $767.16, for a total transaction of $398,156.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,682,229.20. The trade was a 1.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 257,405 shares of company stock valued at $196,059,438. 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.