Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Acquired by Markel Group Inc.

Markel Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 280,281 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.7% of Markel Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Markel Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $206,873,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 137.2% in the 1st quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC now owns 1,167 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $673,000 after buying an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Smart Money Group LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 2,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,182,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spear Holdings RSC Ltd purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,463,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $950.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $920.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson set a $825.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $621.71 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $726.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $702.51. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.28%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $628.00, for a total value of $325,932.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,104,836. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director owned 7,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,697,760.59. This represents a 5.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 75,798 shares of company stock valued at $58,347,026. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.