Verity Asset Management Inc. Buys New Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Verity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 328 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Compton Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $202,000. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 2,492 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,840,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,016 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $11,036,000 after buying an additional 879 shares during the period. Texas Bank & Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 305.5% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Bank & Trust Co now owns 1,464 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 1,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Snider Financial Group increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Snider Financial Group now owns 11,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,684,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $726.25, for a total value of $376,923.75. Following the transaction, the insider owned 31,908 shares in the company, valued at $23,173,185. The trade was a 1.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,343,464.11. The trade was a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 44,421 shares of company stock worth $33,573,980. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $915.00 to $850.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $840.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $609.89 on Friday. 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 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $716.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $703.72. The company has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The business had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $6.03 EPS. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.