Sandy Cove Advisors LLC Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Sandy Cove Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 15% in Q2, now holding 4,793 shares valued at approximately $3.54 million.
• Meta reported a strong quarterly earnings of $7.14 EPS for Q2, surpassing estimates by $1.39, with a revenue of $47.52 billion—up 21.6% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, scheduled for payment on September 29th, representing a yield of 0.3%.

Sandy Cove Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 15.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,793 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 626 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.3% of Sandy Cove Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,538,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 53.6% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total value of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. This represents a 20.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 257,922 shares of company stock valued at $196,412,792. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $1.87 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $778.38. 22,494,703 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,174,566. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $747.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $665.93. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. 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 company has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.18, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on META shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp increased their target price on 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 target price on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $783.00 to $811.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report 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 given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $826.05.

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.