New England Research & Management Inc. Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• New England Research & Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 24.5% in Q2, owning 4,830 shares valued at approximately $3.57 million.
• Institutional ownership of Meta Platforms stands at 79.91%, with significant stakes acquired by firms such as GAMMA Investing LLC and Goldman Sachs Group Inc..
• Recent analyst ratings indicate a consensus of "Moderate Buy" for Meta, with target prices ranging as high as $980.00 from Loop Capital.

New England Research & Management Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 24.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,830 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 950 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.7% of New England Research & Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. New England Research & Management Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,565,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $2,990,544,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 712.2% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,462,589,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225,186 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $1,162,918,000. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Meta Platforms by 23.5% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 7,733,061 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $4,111,050,000 after purchasing an additional 1,470,070 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded down $1.87 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $778.38. 22,494,703 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,704,921. 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 firm's 50 day simple moving average is $745.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $664.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.16 EPS. The firm'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. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on META shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $840.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $826.05.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. This represents 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 90 days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.