Howe & Rusling Inc. Lowers Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Howe & Rusling Inc. cut its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 39,687 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,057 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.9% of Howe & Rusling Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $22,874,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Csenge Advisory Group lifted 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 worth $5,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $99,735,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850 shares in the last quarter. Skye Global Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 130.9% during the 4th quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $44,616,000 after acquiring an additional 43,200 shares in the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JMG Financial Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $284,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC raised Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $920.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $750.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $741.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $661.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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 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 legal 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 283,280 shares of company stock valued at $214,119,908 in the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.