Peoples Financial Services CORP. Reduces Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Peoples Financial Services CORP. cut its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 21.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,391 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 641 shares during the period. Peoples Financial Services CORP.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Pachira Investments Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Shelton Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,302,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Myecfo LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Myecfo LLC now owns 776 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $573,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Kooman & Associates boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.2% during the first quarter. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 752 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $433,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.3%

NASDAQ META opened at $710.56 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $753.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $674.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.73, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $5.16 earnings per share. The business'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. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 214,182 shares of company stock worth $164,955,168 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $840.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho set a $925.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a 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 issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $830.02.

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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