Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by GS Investments Inc.

GS Investments Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,369 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 256 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 4.4% of GS Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. GS Investments Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,868,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during 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 during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $2,990,544,000. Amundi increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 23.5% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 7,733,061 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,111,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,470,070 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $8,977,361,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,546 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $571,086,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $590.32 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $704.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $705.68. The firm has a market cap of $1.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio 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 on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $767.16, for a total transaction of $398,156.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 30,870 shares in the company, valued at $23,682,229.20. The trade was a 1.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,610 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total transaction of $1,590,690.60. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,784 shares in the company, valued at $5,962,956.64. This trade represents a 21.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 29,024 shares of company stock valued at $19,233,987 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,086.00 to $1,117.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $915.00 to $850.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $825.05.

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.