Busey Bank Cuts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Busey Bank has reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 0.7%, now holding 130,648 shares, which represents 2.9% of its investment portfolio.
• Institutional investors collectively own 79.91% of Meta's stock, with recent activity including a 12.0% increase by Csenge Advisory Group and new acquisitions by others.
• Meta Platforms will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share on September 29th, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.3%.

Busey Bank lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 130,648 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 912 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.9% of Busey Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Busey Bank's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $96,430,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 12.0% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,498,000 after buying an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the first quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. JMG Financial Group Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $284,000. Infusive Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.7% in the first quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,620 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,614,000 after purchasing an additional 2,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Growth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.3% in the first quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 662 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $767.16, for a total transaction of $398,156.04. Following the completion of 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $757.47, for a total transaction of $352,223.55. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,412 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,371,837.64. This represents a 5.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 256,886 shares of company stock valued at $195,693,600 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $765.16 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $747.94 and a 200-day moving average of $667.24. The stock has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.70, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $920.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $826.05.

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.

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