Moran Wealth Management LLC Raises Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Moran Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 30,525 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 449 shares during the quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $22,530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Pachira Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% during the second quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the second quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,223 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Myecfo LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the second quarter. Myecfo LLC now owns 776 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $573,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the second quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,302,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kooman & Associates increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the second quarter. Kooman & Associates now owns 544 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total value of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 237,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $184,059,219.75. This trade represents a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total value of $9,062,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,394,225. The trade was a 86.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 214,182 shares of company stock valued at $164,951,541 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $734.00 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $743.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $688.52. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.20. 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) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.16 earnings per share. The business’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. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a $0.525 dividend. 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 7.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. Pivotal Research increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $980.00 price target (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $829.66.

About Meta Platforms

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.