Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc.

Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc. lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 917 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 76 shares during the period. Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the second 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. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in 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 last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth $2,990,544,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 712.2% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,462,589,000 after acquiring an additional 2,225,186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings 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 valued at $4,111,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,470,070 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on META shares. Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial set a $880.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Three 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $826.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $757.47, for a total value of $391,611.99. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 11,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,377,618.20. This trade represents a 4.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $757.47, for a total transaction of $352,223.55. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,371,837.64. This trade represents a 5.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 243,093 shares of company stock valued at $185,897,260. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $755.40 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $748.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $667.85. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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