Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Has $120.08 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Salem Investment Counselors Inc. reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in Q2, now owning 162,685 shares valued at approximately $120.08 million, which represents 3.8% of its portfolio.
• Analysts are optimistic about Meta, with several brokerages raising their price targets; notable upgrades include Morgan Stanley increasing its target from $750.00 to $850.00 and KeyCorp raising it to $905.00.
• Meta Platforms has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525, with the payout scheduled for September 29th, highlighting a growing focus on shareholder returns.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lowered its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 0.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 162,685 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,074 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 3.8% of Salem Investment Counselors Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $120,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 value of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. The trade was a 17.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the company's 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 259,674 shares of company stock worth $197,549,274. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $764.70 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $742.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $662.53. The company has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. 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 payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

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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