Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Waller Financial Planning Group Inc.

Waller Financial Planning Group Inc. cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 19.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 657 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 154 shares during the period. Waller Financial Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $485,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth $33,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $47,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total value of $46,557,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 283,280 shares of company stock worth $214,119,908 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research downgraded Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Roth Capital raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $755.59 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $741.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $661.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $1.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.36, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms’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. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.60%.

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.