Congress Asset Management Co. Cuts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Congress Asset Management Co. reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 1.1%, owning 341,294 shares valued at approximately $251.9 million, making it its fourth largest holding.
• Multiple brokerages have raised their price targets for Meta Platforms, with Wedbush increasing it to $920 and Stifel Nicolaus to $900, reflecting a positive sentiment among analysts.
• Insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of Meta at an average price of $775.95, marking a significant 20.19% decrease in his holdings.

Congress Asset Management Co. lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 341,294 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 3,841 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.7% of Congress Asset Management Co.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Congress Asset Management Co.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $251,905,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 53.6% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Wedbush increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $783.00 to $811.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $830.02.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total value of $46,557,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at $184,059,219.75. This represents a 20.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total transaction of $9,062,850.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,799 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,394,225. This represents a 86.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 213,146 shares of company stock valued at $164,183,241 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $734.38 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $752.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $672.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The company has a market cap of $1.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. The company's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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.