Lafayette Investments Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 1.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 28,162 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 304 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 4.2% of Lafayette Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $20,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,184,163,000 after purchasing an additional 400,927 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,977,361,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255,546 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 12,543,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,229,553,000 after purchasing an additional 536,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,041,171 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,787,329,000 after purchasing an additional 247,850 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, 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 transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 84,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. This represents a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 198,335 shares of company stock worth $153,047,009. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and set a $870.00 price objective (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $920.00 to $830.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $825.00 price target (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $827.60.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Trading Down 11.3%
Shares of META opened at $666.47 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $740.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $695.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.69% and a net margin of 30.89%.The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.03 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.28%.
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.
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