Wedmont Private Capital Increases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 49,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.3% of Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $34,941,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after buying an additional 59,766,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,212,506,000 after purchasing an additional 8,405,558 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $142,149,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532,568 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of META opened at $658.77 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $659.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $707.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.28%.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is reported to be developing new multimodal AI — an image/video model codenamed “Mango” and a text model called “Avocado” targeted for H1‑2026, which could accelerate product differentiation and ad/engagement upgrades. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: U.S. federal action on AI (an executive order to create a national AI framework) is being viewed as a net positive for Big Tech — it could reduce a patchwork of state rules and lower compliance complexity for large platforms like Meta. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wedbush trimmed its price target from $920 to $880 but kept an “outperform” rating — the cut tempers upside expectations but the firm still implies substantial upside vs. current levels. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Austrias Supreme Court ruled Meta’s personalized ad model unlawful and ordered sweeping user‑data access changes across the EU — this is a binding precedent that raises regulatory, compliance and revenue risk in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Several insiders (including General Counsel Jennifer Newstead and COO Javier Olivan) have sold blocks of shares in recent weeks — repeated insider sales can be perceived negatively by the market even if amounts are small relative to overall holdings. Read More. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wedbush decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $920.00 to $880.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Benchmark cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Arete Research set a $718.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $818.59.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total value of $365,610.00. Following the sale, the director owned 7,347 shares in the company, valued at $4,476,894.45. This represents a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total value of $429,501.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 6,035 shares in the company, valued at $3,570,306. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 42,074 shares of company stock valued at $26,478,698 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.