Norway Savings Bank Purchases 666 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Norway Savings Bank grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 15.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,028 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 666 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.9% of Norway Savings Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Norway Savings Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,711,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $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 fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. HSBC raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upgraded Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $822.41.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 283,280 shares of company stock valued at $214,119,908. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $755.59 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $741.83 and its 200-day moving average is $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 (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. The firm’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. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

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.