Norris Perne & French LLP MI Purchases 6,151 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Norris Perne & French LLP MI lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 194.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,320 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 6,151 shares during the period. Norris Perne & French LLP MI’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,759,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. BG Investment Services LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 4,302.4% during the third quarter. BG Investment Services LLC now owns 24,081 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $17,463,000 after acquiring an additional 23,534 shares during the last quarter. Valen Private Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $427,000. Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 10.6% during the third quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 28,261 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,494,000 after buying an additional 2,707 shares during the period. Madrona Financial Services LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the third quarter. Madrona Financial Services LLC now owns 1,110 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $805,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Finally, NTV Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 8,681 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,296,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Meta Platforms News

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Meta settled a teen lawsuit alleging that Instagram and Facebook contributed to addiction, depression and eating disorders. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the agreement removes Meta from an upcoming Los Angeles trial and reduces near-term litigation uncertainty. Reuters settlement report
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s advertising fundamentals remain strong: recent coverage cited higher ad pricing, rising impressions, improved AI-driven ad conversions and strong engagement. Analysts also see meaningful upside, with one fair-value estimate raised from $813.65 to $848.38 per share. Meta fair value report
• Positive Sentiment: Meta expanded its relationship with Advanced Micro Devices, including a $1 billion equity investment and multi-generation chip co-design for Meta’s AI data centers. The deal may improve access to computing capacity and supplier diversification. AMD and Meta partnership report

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on META shares. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $895.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $833.12.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $614.99 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $670.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $632.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $520.26 and a 52-week high of $779.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The social networking company reported $7.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.54 by $0.86. The business had revenue of $64.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 31.15% and a return on equity of 30.73%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.25 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Monday, September 21st were paid a dividend of $0.5250 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 21st. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan Li sold 9,196 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total value of $5,063,409.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,260,343.46. The trade was a 41.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Christopher Cox sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $712.76, for a total transaction of $28,510,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 184,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $131,515,624.16. The trade was a 17.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 150,015 shares of company stock valued at $102,464,300. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc is a technology company that develops social networking, messaging, virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence products. The company’s principal platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Threads, which enable users to connect, communicate, share content, and discover products and services.

Meta also operates Reality Labs, its division focused on virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies. Reality Labs develops products such as Meta Quest virtual reality headsets and related software and experiences, along with research and hardware intended to support immersive computing.