Freestone Capital Holdings LLC Has $46.37 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Freestone Capital Holdings LLC reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 62,821 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 6,722 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.6% of Freestone Capital Holdings LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $46,368,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the second quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC now owns 2,671 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,972,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Astra Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.0% in the second quarter. Astra Wealth Partners LLC now owns 998 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $737,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $242,000. Finally, Compton Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $202,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Loop Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $980.00 price objective (up previously from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $870.00 price target (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $609.89 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a 50 day moving average of $716.58 and a 200-day moving average of $703.72. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 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 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.03 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.28%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total transaction of $9,062,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,394,225. The trade was a 86.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. This trade represents a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 44,421 shares of company stock worth $33,573,980 in the last three months. 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.