Sen. Shelley Moore Capito Buys Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares

Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia) recently bought shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META). In a filing disclosed on April 10th, the Senator disclosed that they had bought between $1,001 and $15,000 in Meta Platforms stock on March 26th.

Senator Shelley Moore Capito also recently made the following trade(s):

• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Constellation Energy (NASDAQ:CEG) on 3/26/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) on 2/24/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) on 2/24/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) on 2/24/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) on 2/5/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Constellation Energy (NASDAQ:CEG) on 2/4/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) on 2/4/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:LOW) on 1/17/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Chubb (NYSE:CB) on 1/17/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) on 1/17/2025.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $543.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $628.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $609.11. The stock has a market cap of $1.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $786.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Benchmark upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $701.38.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $606.77, for a total transaction of $250,596.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 16,688 shares in the company, valued at $10,125,777.76. The trade was a 2.42 % 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. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total transaction of $500,462.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,943,062.60. The trade was a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 487,453 shares of company stock valued at $326,680,904. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

About Senator Capito

Shelley Moore Capito (Republican Party) is a member of the U.S. Senate from West Virginia. She assumed office on January 3, 2015. Her current term ends on January 3, 2027. Capito (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the U.S. Senate to represent West Virginia. She won in the general election on November 3, 2020. Capito was first elected to the Senate in 2014, becoming the first female U.S. Senator in the state’s history. Prior to serving in the Senate, Capito was a member of the West Virginia House of Representatives from 1997 to 2001 and a member of the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2015. At the start of the 116th Congress, Capito was a member of the U.S. Senate committees on Appropriations, Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Environment and Public Works, and Rules and Administration. As of a 2014 analysis of multiple outside rankings, Capito is a more moderate right of center Republican Party vote. As a result, she may break with the Republican Party line more than her fellow members. Capito earned her bachelor’s degree from Duke University. After earning her M.Ed. from the University of Virginia, Capito was a college counselor and then director of an educational information center. She was the only Republican in the West Virginia congressional delegation until the 2010 elections and is the first Republican woman elected to Congress from West Virginia. Capito is a former chairwoman of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues, as well as a member of the Congressional Arts Caucus. After an explosion responsible for the death of 29 coal workers, Capito founded the Congressional Coal Caucus. Prior to her election to the U.S. House, Capito served in the West Virginia House of Delegates.

Meta Platforms Company 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.