Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 35.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 422 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $312,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $33,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $184,059,219.75. This represents a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $769.38, for a total value of $12,192,364.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 213,665 shares of company stock worth $164,575,272 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $705.30 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50 day moving average is $752.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $679.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on META shares. KeyCorp upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $980.00 target price (up previously from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. UBS Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $897.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial set a $880.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $830.68.

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.