Blair William & Co. IL Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 576,598 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,440 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.2% of Blair William & Co. IL’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $425,581,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 40,691 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,453,000 after buying an additional 5,829 shares during the period. 1776 Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 137.2% in the 1st quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC now owns 1,167 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $673,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Perspectives Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 4,212 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,428,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.97, for a total value of $333,391.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,697,760.59. The trade was a 5.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $707.85, for a total value of $367,374.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 28,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,381,832.90. This represents a 1.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 214,182 shares of company stock valued at $164,933,323 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $716.91 on Friday. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $746.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $683.03. The company has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.96, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.20. 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 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 during 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%.Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a $0.525 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC raised Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.