Merit Financial Group LLC Has $57.87 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 28.6%, owning a total of 78,407 shares valued at approximately $57.87 million as of its latest SEC filing.
• Analysts have raised their target prices for Meta Platforms significantly, with Pivotal Research increasing it from $830 to $930, indicating strong potential growth for the stock.
• Meta Platforms recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, reflecting a modest yield of 0.3% and a payout ratio of 7.60%.

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 28.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 78,407 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 17,433 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $57,872,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pachira Investments Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.0% during the second quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Shelton Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the second quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Myecfo LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the second quarter. Myecfo LLC now owns 776 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $573,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Kooman & Associates boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the second quarter. Kooman & Associates now owns 544 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the second quarter. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc now owns 1,378 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,017,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Pivotal Research increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $810.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $830.68.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $704.81, for a total transaction of $364,386.77. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,509 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,702,038.29. This trade represents a 5.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.98, for a total transaction of $372,112.62. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 29,313 shares in the company, valued at $21,016,834.74. This trade represents a 1.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 213,665 shares of company stock worth $164,575,272 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.8%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $705.30 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.54, a PEG ratio of 1.47 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. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $752.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $679.78.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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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