Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Buys 14,350 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2%, owning a total of 458,527 shares valued at approximately $338.4 million.
• Brokerages have raised their target prices for Meta, with estimates now ranging from $850 to $925, indicating strong future performance expectations.
• Meta Platforms recently reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, exceeding expectations and showing a 21.6% year-over-year revenue growth.

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 458,527 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 14,350 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 0.9% of Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $338,435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the 1st 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. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on META. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Mizuho set a $925.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $830.02.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $710.56 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $753.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $675.45. The company has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.73, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 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 firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.16 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.60%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total transaction of $9,062,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,799 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,394,225. This trade represents a 86.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 214,182 shares of company stock valued at $164,955,168. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Company 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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