Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Gateway Investment Advisers LLC reduced its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.8%, now holding 418,285 shares valued at approximately $308.7 million, making it the fund's fifth largest position.
• Insider transactions include significant sales by CFO Susan J. Li and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, with a total of 257,922 shares sold in the last three months, reflecting a decline in their ownership positions.
• Meta Platforms announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, with the ex-dividend date on September 22nd, representing an annualized yield of 0.3%.

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 418,285 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 7,736 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 3.4% of Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $308,732,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Csenge Advisory Group grew 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 worth $5,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. JMG Financial Group Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth approximately $284,000. Infusive Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 2,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Growth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 662 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $395,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $767.16, for a total value of $398,156.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 30,870 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,682,229.20. This represents a 1.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $352,223.55. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,412 shares in the company, valued at $6,371,837.64. This represents a 5.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 257,405 shares of company stock worth $196,059,438. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $920.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $826.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META traded down $13.22 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $765.16. 11,659,363 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,828,774. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The business's 50-day moving average price is $747.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $667.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd will be paid 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 (DPR) 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.