Welch & Forbes LLC Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Welch & Forbes LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 124,030 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,699 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.1% of Welch & Forbes LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $91,545,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. Accuvest Global Advisors boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Accuvest Global Advisors now owns 7,222 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,330,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the period. Sebold Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.6% during the second quarter. Sebold Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,605 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,185,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 56,879 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,062 shares during the last quarter. Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at $235,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 24,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,051,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $915.00 to $850.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $825.00 price objective (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, JMP Securities increased 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $612.61 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $719.36 and a 200 day moving average of $704.38. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.03 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total transaction of $14,018,663.72. Following the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total transaction of $402,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 32,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,533,150. This represents a 1.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 59,430 shares of company stock valued at $45,313,988. 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.