Ridgewood Investments LLC Boosts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Ridgewood Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 25.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,912 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 782 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.2% of Ridgewood Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,887,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. JMG Financial Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $284,000. Infusive Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,620 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,614,000 after purchasing an additional 2,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Growth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 662 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $760.66 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.91 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $750.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $668.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.16 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 7.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Benchmark boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Three equities 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $826.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 84,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,343,464.11. This trade represents a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 243,610 shares of company stock worth $186,301,207. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms 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.