Exeter Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 427 Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Exeter Financial LLC has acquired 427 shares of Meta Platforms, valued at approximately $315,000, during the second quarter, reflecting growing institutional interest in the company.
• Meta's stock recently opened at $743.40 and has shown significant performance with a 21.6% year-over-year revenue growth and a quarterly earnings per share of $7.14, surpassing estimates.
• The company declared a $0.525 quarterly dividend, representing an annualized dividend yield of 0.3%, indicating continued shareholder returns amidst its financial growth.

Exeter Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 427 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $315,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Csenge Advisory Group grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.0% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $452,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. JMG Financial Group Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $284,000. Infusive Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,620 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,614,000 after buying an additional 2,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Growth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 662 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $395,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial set a $880.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Loop Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $980.00 price objective (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $826.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $743.40 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $752.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $672.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $769.20, for a total value of $399,214.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,351 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,345,989.20. This represents a 1.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $757.47, for a total value of $352,223.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,412 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,371,837.64. This represents a 5.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 215,507 shares of company stock valued at $165,874,850 over the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by 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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