New England Research & Management Inc. Has $3.57 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

New England Research & Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 24.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,830 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 950 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.7% of New England Research & Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. New England Research & Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,565,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,184,163,000 after buying an additional 400,927 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,977,361,000 after buying an additional 1,255,546 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 12,543,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,229,553,000 after buying an additional 536,160 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,041,171 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,787,329,000 after purchasing an additional 247,850 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $920.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Loop Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $980.00 price objective (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $822.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,343,464.11. This represents a 17.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 257,903 shares of company stock valued at $196,364,826 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.4%

META opened at $775.72 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $744.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $664.12. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.16 EPS. The company’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. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.