Meta Platforms, Inc. $META is Wedbush Securities Inc.’s 8th Largest Position

Wedbush Securities Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 49,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,416 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.3% of Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $36,668,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Chancellor Financial Group WB LP grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the second quarter. Chancellor Financial Group WB LP now owns 1,390 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,026,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 54.4% in the 2nd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 98,996 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $73,068,000 after purchasing an additional 34,874 shares during the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 42,806 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,595,000 after purchasing an additional 5,966 shares during the last quarter. RPS Advisory Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. RPS Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 891 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $658,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 106,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $78,644,000 after buying an additional 4,954 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Zacks Research upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Oppenheimer cut Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.7%

NASDAQ META opened at $597.69 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $707.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $706.50. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.03 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.28%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,063 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total transaction of $3,085,695.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 6,936 shares in the company, valued at $4,227,214.56. This trade represents a 42.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,610 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total value of $1,590,690.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,962,956.64. This trade represents a 21.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 28,424 shares of company stock valued at $18,868,377. Corporate 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.