Evelyn Partners Investment Management Europe Ltd Reduces Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Evelyn Partners Investment Management Europe Ltd decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,233 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 186 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.1% of Evelyn Partners Investment Management Europe Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Europe Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $910,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Maseco LLP purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $54,000. Finally, Piscataqua Savings Bank increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 433.3% during the 2nd quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $950.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $920.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $823.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $598.54, for a total value of $309,445.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 14,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,849,413.90. This trade represents a 3.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total transaction of $6,935,793.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,432,843.65. This trade represents a 82.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 40,923 shares of company stock valued at $26,007,416 in the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $640.87 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.31, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $680.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $706.54. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.03 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.28%.

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.