Equitable Trust Co. Buys 1,110 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Equitable Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,648 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,110 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 0.9% of Equitable Trust Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Equitable Trust Co.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $18,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 32,460 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $23,958,000 after acquiring an additional 3,241 shares during the last quarter. Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $373,000. Morningstar Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 21.8% during the 2nd quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 51,914 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $38,317,000 after acquiring an additional 9,294 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 19,244 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $14,204,000 after acquiring an additional 1,413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 69,927 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $51,612,000 after acquiring an additional 609 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Raymond James Financial boosted 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. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, July 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $829.66.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $738.36 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $742.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $690.10. The firm has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the company's 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 directly owned 7,947 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,697,760.59. This represents a 5.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company's 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 sale, the chief operating officer owned 8,475 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,113,017.50. The trade was a 5.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 214,182 shares of company stock worth $164,951,541. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

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