WASHINGTON TRUST Co Buys 1,441 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 76,304 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,441 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.7% of WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $55,334,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. XXI Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 52.4% during the third quarter. XXI Wealth LLC now owns 5,669 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,111,000 after buying an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 223,537 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $162,105,000 after acquiring an additional 1,023 shares during the last quarter. BIP Wealth LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 8,509 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,170,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. River Street Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $949,000. Finally, MLP3 LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 280.4% during the 3rd quarter. MLP3 LLC now owns 2,195 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,591,000 after acquiring an additional 1,618 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $612.49 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $667.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $632.53. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $779.82. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The social networking company reported $7.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.54 by $0.86. The firm had revenue of $64.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 31.15% and a return on equity of 30.73%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.25 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta priced a $25 billion Class A common-stock offering and a $12.5 billion mandatory convertible preferred-stock offering, with proceeds earmarked for its artificial-intelligence infrastructure. The common offering reportedly attracted demand several times greater than the shares available, suggesting institutional interest in Meta’s AI strategy. Meta offering pricing
• Positive Sentiment: Nvidia plans to invest $3 billion in Meta and expand its partnership around Meta’s Muse AI assistant and models. The deal provides third-party validation for Meta’s AI ambitions and may help secure access to Nvidia hardware. Nvidia invests in Meta partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s core advertising business remains strong: ad impressions increased 10% year over year, average ad prices rose 14%, and AI improvements reportedly lifted app-ad conversions by 9.6%. Early adoption of Muse and new AI experiments such as Waddle World could create future commerce and subscription revenue. Meta AI risk and reward
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta delayed indefinitely the rollout of new commercial terms after publisher objections. The move could reduce near-term conflict but leaves unresolved questions about the company’s relationship with media organizations and use of publisher content. Meta delays commercial terms
• Negative Sentiment: The major concern is dilution: Meta is pursuing nearly $98 billion in equity financing, including new common and convertible preferred securities. Investors appear worried that the funding will reduce per-share value even if it finances long-term AI growth. Meta stock analysis and dilution
• Negative Sentiment: AI investment is weighing heavily on near-term financials. Capital expenditures reached $34.9 billion, producing negative free cash flow of $2.1 billion, while higher spending and legal costs pressured margins. This has led some analysts to downgrade the stock, despite revenue exceeding expectations. Meta AI spending downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Meta COO Javier Olivan sold shares worth approximately $1.0 million in two transactions. Both sales were executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing their significance as a signal of management’s outlook. SEC insider transaction filing

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $860.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. New Street Research dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $730.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st. DZ Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” 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 eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $833.12.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 946 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $640.00, for a total transaction of $605,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 5,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,225,600. The trade was a 15.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 150,015 shares of company stock valued at $102,464,300 in the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.