1,004 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Purchased by Ransom Advisory Ltd

Key Points

• Ransom Advisory Ltd has acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, purchasing 1,004 shares valued at approximately $579,000 during Q1.
• Several institutional investors, including Lantern Wealth Advisors and ABLE Financial Group, have also increased their stakes in Meta Platforms, contributing to 79.91% institutional ownership of the stock.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Meta Platforms, with price targets increased significantly, indicating positive growth expectations for the company.

Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,004 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $579,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth $2,990,544,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 712.2% in the first 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 acquiring an additional 2,225,186 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $1,162,918,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 23.5% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 7,733,061 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $4,111,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,470,070 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 84,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. This trade represents a 17.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider owned 237,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 283,280 shares of company stock worth $214,119,908 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Benchmark increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Three investment 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $4.69 on Friday, hitting $755.59. 8,240,448 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,776,048. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $741.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $661.83. The company has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.36, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.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 company earned $5.16 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.60%.

Meta Platforms 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.