VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. Purchases New Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 302 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,990,544,000. Amundi lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 23.5% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 7,733,061 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,111,050,000 after purchasing an additional 1,470,070 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,255,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth approximately $571,086,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total transaction of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 84,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. The trade was a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $769.38, for a total transaction of $12,192,364.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 213,665 shares of company stock worth $164,575,272. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.8%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $705.30 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $752.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $679.78. The company has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its 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 net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 7.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, July 28th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $897.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $830.68.

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.