Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Bought by Plato Investment Management Ltd

Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 51,425 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 996 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.5% of Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $37,478,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after buying an additional 1,532,568 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $37,902,948,000 after acquiring an additional 682,768 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $23,155,393,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,489,621 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,694,644,000 after acquiring an additional 262,550 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: High‑profile institutional support: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square has taken a multi‑billion dollar stake, signaling confidence in Meta’s AI pivot and likely attracting other institutional interest. Ackman stake
• Positive Sentiment: Strong fundamentals and analyst upside: Q4 earnings beat and bullish analyst notes (multiple price‑target raises and buy reiterations) support a constructive medium‑term view. Seeking Alpha bullish note
• Positive Sentiment: Hardware and AI investments showing early traction: Ray‑Ban AI glasses sales growth and Reality Labs repositioning give optionality beyond ads. Ray‑Ban sales
• Neutral Sentiment: Dividend declared: Meta announced a $0.525 quarterly dividend (small yield) — positive for income investors but modest versus total return expectations. Dividend PR
• Neutral Sentiment: Large capex for AI: Meta broke ground on a ~$10B data‑center campus to boost AI compute — strengthens long‑term ad/AI moat but raises near‑term capex. Data center Reuters
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider/ownership moves mixed: CEO/COO small routine sales and some funds trimming while others add — notable but not a clear directional signal alone. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Privacy and reputational risk from facial‑recognition plans for Ray‑Ban AI glasses: Reports that Meta plans a “Name Tag” feature have triggered renewed privacy concerns and could draw regulatory scrutiny or user backlash. NYT facial recognition
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/access hit: Russia moved to block WhatsApp for ~100M users, a material engagement loss in that market. WhatsApp block
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and litigation noise: Ongoing trials and witness testimony alleging platform harm raise litigation/ reputational risk that can pressure sentiment and potentially cost fines or operational changes. Trial coverage

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total value of $374,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,983,882. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $307,040.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 34,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,487,699.60. This trade represents a 1.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 23,413 shares of company stock worth $14,472,032 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $639.77 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $1.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.22, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $657.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $693.34.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The company had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $8.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Roth Mkm lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.50.

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.