JLB & Associates Inc. Raises Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

JLB & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 28.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,766 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 1,045 shares during the quarter. JLB & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $10,184,163,000 after acquiring an additional 400,927 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $8,977,361,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,546 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 12,543,468 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $7,229,553,000 after acquiring an additional 536,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,041,171 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,787,329,000 after acquiring an additional 247,850 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.3%

NASDAQ:META opened at $710.56 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.73, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $753.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $676.07. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company 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 EPS 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 issued a $0.525 dividend. 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 payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on META. Mizuho set a $925.00 target price on Meta Platforms and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Zacks Research lowered Meta Platforms from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Wedbush increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $870.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $830.02.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of the business'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 value of $9,062,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,799 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,394,225. The trade was a 86.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 84,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. This trade represents a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 213,665 shares of company stock worth $164,584,215. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company 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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