SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda Decreases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 81.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,030 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 47,900 shares during the period. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,100,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,212,506,000 after acquiring an additional 8,405,558 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake 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 worth $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 948.7% in the third quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 1,243,577 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,124,998 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.1%

META opened at $654.86 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $654.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $679.16. 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 $1.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $8.02 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total transaction of $5,106,100.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,793,352.84. The trade was a 74.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 161,446 shares of company stock worth $103,451,688. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm dropped their price target 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. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 price target (up from $870.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $844.44.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta unveiled a rapid roadmap of four new in‑house AI chips (MTIA 300/400/450/500) aimed at lowering inference costs and scaling generative-AI workloads across its data centers — a move that can boost operating leverage and reduce reliance on third‑party silicon. Meta Chip Roadmap Puts AI Inference And Costs In Sharper Focus
• Positive Sentiment: Meta acquired Moltbook, a viral social network built for AI agents, and brought its founders into Meta’s Superintelligence Labs — strengthens AI talent and experimental capabilities that underpin product differentiation in ads, messaging and future AI services. Meta acquires AI agent social network Moltbook
• Positive Sentiment: Meta rolled out new AI-powered anti‑scam tools across WhatsApp, Facebook and Messenger — could improve user safety and ad environment quality, modestly supporting ad engagement and advertiser trust. Meta rolls out new scam detection tools to Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger
• Neutral Sentiment: Some sell‑side commentary (Evercore/Barron’s coverage) suggests internet names including Meta may be oversold amid AI and geopolitical worries — this can create short‑term buying interest even if macro worries persist. Amazon, Uber, and Other Internet Stocks Look Too Cheap After AI and Iran Worries
• Negative Sentiment: Meta said it will pass on digital‑services taxes to advertisers via a 2–5% location fee — likely to raise ad costs or complicate advertiser relationships in affected markets, which could weigh on revenue growth or ad volumes in Europe. Meta to charge advertisers a fee to offset Europe’s digital taxes
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulators (Ofcom and privacy watchdogs) and MPs are pressing big tech to do more to keep children off platforms — heightened regulatory scrutiny and potential new rules increase compliance costs and policy risk for Meta’s social apps. UK watchdogs press Meta, TikTok, Snap and YouTube to block children
• Negative Sentiment: A Dutch appeals court upheld an order forcing Meta to offer chronological feeds in the Netherlands — a legal precedent that can raise product/engineering costs and complicate ad targeting models if expanded to other jurisdictions. Dutch court upholds ruling forcing Meta offer chronological feeds
• Negative Sentiment: COO Javier Oliván disclosed multiple share sales in early March (SEC filings) — insider selling can be interpreted by some investors as a signal to reduce exposure even if it’s for personal reasons. SEC insider filing — Javier Oliván

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.