Balefire LLC Has $2.42 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Balefire LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 348.0% in Q2, now holding shares worth $2.4 million.
• Meta reported a 21.6% year-over-year revenue growth of $47.52 billion for Q2, exceeding analysts' expectations.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.3%, set to be paid on September 29th.

Balefire LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 348.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,275 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 2,544 shares during the period. Balefire LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,417,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 102.6% during the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 53.6% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on META. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial set a $880.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $840.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of 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 issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $826.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total transaction of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. The trade was a 17.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 257,922 shares of company stock valued at $196,412,792 over the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $1.87 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $778.38. The stock had a trading volume of 22,494,703 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,174,566. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $747.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $665.93. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.16 earnings per share. The company'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. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 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.