Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stake Trimmed by Washington Trust Advisors Inc.

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 74,739 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,145 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 4.2% of Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $54,887,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $648.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $655.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $685.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $8.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reported multiyear deal to rent Google’s TPU chips to accelerate model training — expands Meta’s compute capacity quickly without buying all hardware, supporting AI roadmap and ad/AI monetization prospects. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Deal with AMD for GPUs and plans for very large 2026 capex (reported commitments and nuclear power pacts) strengthen Meta’s in‑house training scale and long‑term AI competitiveness, which investors view as revenue‑accretive over time. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is trialing stablecoin payments across Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp, targeting faster payments and adoption in underbanked markets — a potential new revenue stream and higher engagement in emerging markets. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company sued advertisers over celebrity‑impersonation scams and took technical enforcement actions — a move to shore up ad quality and preserve advertiser trust. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI hired a high‑profile Meta AI researcher — talent movement highlights competition for AI engineers but is common across the sector and not unique to Meta. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/industry comparisons show Alphabet gaining share in AI‑fuelled search and investing aggressively — useful context for competitive positioning but not an immediate earnings event. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: EU court adviser sided with regulators in a dispute over antitrust data requests — raises regulatory/compliance risk and potential costs in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: High‑profile US trial testimony about social‑media harms and new Instagram parent‑alert policies keep litigation and reputational risk elevated, which can pressure sentiment and regulatory scrutiny. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales by CFO Susan Li (55,702 shares) and recent COO selling may be read negatively by some investors, adding near‑term selling pressure despite common non‑signal reasons for sales; SEC filing available. Read More.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Sunday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total transaction of $1,574,473.97. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,746,335.16. This trade represents a 16.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 55,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.61, for a total value of $35,293,344.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,354,781.46. This trade represents a 80.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 103,837 shares of company stock worth $66,356,760. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $785.00 to $820.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $860.00 price objective (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $844.44.

About Meta Platforms

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.