Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. decreased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 498,173 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 34,335 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.9% of Xponance Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $365,848,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the second quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,506 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,587,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co of the South raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 1,850 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management now owns 4,301 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,159,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 454 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on META. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $900.00 price target (up from $870.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $850.00 price objective (up from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, 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 research note on Monday, January 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $844.44.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.9%

META stock opened at $667.73 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $655.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $682.65. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The company had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $8.02 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate 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 paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Signed a multiyear AI content-licensing deal that gives Meta paid access to News Corp content for training and retrieval — supports AI product quality and reduces legal/quality risk around training data. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Announced a new applied AI engineering organization (flat structure to speed model development) and an applied AI unit to accelerate model work — signals faster product development and continued R&D investment behind AI-driven ad and product monetization. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and pundits highlight Meta’s ability to monetize AI across its large user base (including tests of AI shopping tools) — reinforces revenue upside from higher engagement and ad yield. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Company presented at the Morgan Stanley TMT conference — useful for analyst color but not an immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation reviews note Meta’s scale, margins and recent cooling in short-term returns — provides context for positioning but is not a day-specific driver. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: MarketBeat and others point out heavy institutional buying even as insiders sell — suggests professional investors remain constructive despite headline noise. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Indonesia issued a “stern warning” over disinformation and gambling content and is pushing for greater algorithm transparency — represents regulatory and content-moderation risk in a large market. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Separately, Indonesian officials publicly urged Meta to increase algorithm transparency, adding reputational and compliance pressure that could lead to operational or policy costs. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Facebook experienced user outages in the U.S. this week — short-term engagement and ad-impression risk and a reminder of operational vulnerability. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales disclosed: CFO Susan Li sold ~56,571 shares (~$36.5M) and COO Javier Olivan also sold shares — executed via SEC filings; while often tax/plan-driven, such sales can create short-term selling pressure and feed negative headlines. Read More. Read More.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total value of $1,574,473.97. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 12,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,746,335.16. The trade was a 16.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 160,927 shares of company stock valued at $103,155,254. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.