Paragon Capital Management Ltd Purchases Shares of 287 Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Paragon Capital Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 287 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $717.34 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.20. 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’s 50-day moving average is $753.01 and its 200-day moving average is $673.09. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 7.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC upgraded Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Mizuho set a $925.00 target price on Meta Platforms and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $830.02.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $769.20, for a total value of $399,214.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,345,989.20. The trade was a 1.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $757.47, for a total value of $352,223.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,371,837.64. This represents a 5.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 213,663 shares of company stock worth $164,570,329. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.