Moors & Cabot Inc. Purchases 506 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 34,989 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 506 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.2% of Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $25,825,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the 2nd quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maseco LLP bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $54,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $726.25, for a total transaction of $376,923.75. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,173,185. The trade was a 1.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,394,225. The trade was a 86.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 44,421 shares of company stock valued at $33,573,980 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $609.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $713.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $705.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on META. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $980.00 price target (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $915.00 to $850.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $827.60.

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.