Perpetual Ltd Sells 4,198 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Perpetual Ltd reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 23.3% during Q2, now holding shares worth $10.2 million after selling 4,198 shares.
• Meta reported an earnings per share of $7.14 for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $5.75 and achieving a 21.6% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.3%, payable on September 29th.

Perpetual Ltd lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 23.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,819 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 4,198 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,200,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 12.0% during the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares during the period. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the first quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. JMG Financial Group Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $284,000. Infusive Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.7% during the first quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,620 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,614,000 after buying an additional 2,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Growth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.3% during the first quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 662 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "strong-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 assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $826.05.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.7%

Meta Platforms stock traded down $13.22 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $765.16. The stock had a trading volume of 11,659,363 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,828,774. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $747.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $667.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd will be issued a $0.525 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 257,405 shares of company stock valued at $196,059,438 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.