Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Second Line Capital LLC

Second Line Capital LLC lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 30.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,197 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,192 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.1% of Second Line Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Second Line Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,286,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Advisory Services Network LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the third quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 81,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,739,000 after buying an additional 1,936 shares in the last quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the third quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 855 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $628,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.8% in the third quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC now owns 1,097 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $806,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 709.9% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 130,010 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $95,433,000 after acquiring an additional 113,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corus Family Wealth Advisors increased its position in Meta Platforms by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. Corus Family Wealth Advisors now owns 960 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $705,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $810.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $910.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Pivotal Research decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $930.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Three equities research 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $844.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value 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, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,108 shares in the company, valued at $7,746,335.16. The trade was a 16.89% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 159,830 shares of company stock worth $102,409,190 in the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.8%

NASDAQ META opened at $622.66 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The company has a 50-day moving average of $651.86 and a 200-day moving average of $675.20.

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, 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 business had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $8.02 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Global user engagement is rising — Meta reported ~17% higher total time spent year‑over‑year across its platforms, which supports ad monetization and long‑term revenue growth. InsiderMonkey: User Engagement
• Positive Sentiment: Meta unveiled four MTIA custom AI chips and explicitly confirmed the Broadcom (AVGO) partnership — a move that helps scale inference workloads efficiently and could improve unit economics as GenAI inference rolls out. Meta AI blog: MTIA chips
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and buy‑the‑dip voices remain mixed but constructive — several pieces argue fundamentals (mid‑20% revenue growth last year, high margins) justify buying on weakness; JPMorgan reiterated an Overweight with a high target. Fool: Buy on pullback Finbold: JPMorgan target
• Neutral Sentiment: Smaller partner news (MONAT integration) expands social‑commerce use cases but is unlikely to move Meta’s top‑line materially in the near term. GlobeNewswire: MONAT integration
• Negative Sentiment: Huge AI infrastructure commitments — public reports show Meta has signed supply agreements (up to ~$27B with Nebius and large third‑party commitments) and is planning very large AI‑related CapEx — raising near‑term cash and margin pressure perceptions. CNBC: $27B Nebius deal
• Negative Sentiment: Layoff reports and related uncertainty — multiple outlets cite that Meta is considering cuts up to ~20% of staff to offset AI costs; that spurs short‑term volatility even if intended to improve long‑term efficiency. Reuters: Layoff report CNET: Workforce/AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and execution risks — reports of delays in Meta’s latest AI model and heightened scrutiny (e.g., China probing the Manus acquisition) increase downside risk and geopolitical/regulatory uncertainty. NYTimes: China scrutiny Fool: AI model delay

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.