Welch Group LLC Buys 588 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Welch Group LLC has increased its stake in Meta Platforms, acquiring an additional 588 shares, bringing its total holdings to 15,686 shares valued at approximately $11.58 million.
• Several institutional investors have significantly altered their positions in Meta, with notable increases from Kingstone Capital Partners and Amundi, showcasing institutional confidence in the company.
• Meta Platforms recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525, with an annualized yield of 0.3%, demonstrating the company's commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Welch Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,686 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 588 shares during the quarter. Welch Group LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,577,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $44,119,937,000 after buying an additional 59,766,000 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $2,990,544,000. Amundi lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,470,070 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $8,977,361,000 after buying an additional 1,255,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $571,086,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $707.85, for a total value of $367,374.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 28,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,381,832.90. This represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.97, for a total value of $333,391.05. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,947 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,697,760.59. This represents a 5.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 213,663 shares of company stock valued at $164,569,365. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. UBS Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $897.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $829.66.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of META stock opened at $733.41 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.55, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $744.01 and a 200-day moving average of $687.02. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25.

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. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend 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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