First Trust Advisors LP Purchases 43,308 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,133,432 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,308 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.2% of First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,566,750,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% in 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 buying an additional 8,405,558 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in 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 buying an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 valued at $142,149,566,000 after buying an additional 1,532,568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 948.7% during the 3rd quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 1,243,577 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $913,000 after buying an additional 1,124,998 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:META opened at $654.86 on Thursday. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $654.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $679.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.87, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $8.02 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.94%.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Rolled out a roadmap of four new in‑house AI chips to expand data‑center capacity and cut dependence on third‑party hardware — a move that should lower long‑term costs and support Meta’s AI scale and margins. Meta unveils plans for batch of in-house AI chips
• Positive Sentiment: Acquired Moltbook, a viral social network for AI agents, and brought its founders into Meta’s Superintelligence Labs — an inexpensive talent & capability win that reinforces Meta’s AI roadmap and content‑generation/testing capabilities. Meta acquires AI agent social network Moltbook
• Positive Sentiment: Launched AI‑powered anti‑scam tools across WhatsApp, Facebook and Messenger — a user‑safety boost that can protect engagement and advertiser confidence on its platforms. Meta rolls out new scam detection tools to Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger
• Neutral Sentiment: Street commentary (Evercore/Barron’s) suggests internet names including META may be oversold after AI worries and geopolitical risk — a catalyst that could attract value buyers but depends on macro sentiment. Amazon, Uber, and Other Internet Stocks Look Too Cheap After AI and Iran Worries
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: COO Javier Olivan sold multiple blocks of shares (hundreds of shares reported), trimming his position — a near‑term negative signal that can weigh on sentiment even if routine. SEC filing: Javier Olivan sales
• Negative Sentiment: Announced a 2–5% “location fee” for advertisers to cover some European digital taxes — could pressure ad rates/advertiser spend in affected markets and be a small drag on revenue growth. Meta to charge advertisers a fee to offset Europe’s digital taxes
• Negative Sentiment: Dutch appeals court upheld a ruling forcing Meta to offer chronological feeds in the Netherlands — a regulatory loss that could affect engagement/personalization and set precedents for further restrictions. Dutch court upholds ruling forcing Meta to offer chronological feeds

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $850.00 target price (up from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $844.44.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total value of $5,106,100.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares in the company, valued at $1,793,352.84. This represents a 74.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 161,446 shares of company stock valued at $103,451,688 over the last quarter. 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.