Sarasin & Partners LLP Sells 246,703 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Sarasin & Partners LLP cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 40.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 366,774 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 246,703 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.5% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $242,104,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 294.7% during the 1st quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $86,454,000 after purchasing an additional 112,000 shares in the last quarter. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $322,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: CTO Andrew Bosworth will lead Meta’s “AI for Work” initiatives, signaling a top-down push to embed AI across operations that could improve productivity and long-term margins. Meta Names New Leader of Company’s Efforts To Become AI Native
• Positive Sentiment: Meta hired the Dreamer team to scale personalized AI agents, strengthening its talent and product roadmap for agentic AI — a strategic move that supports future ad/product monetization. Meta Recruits Dreamer Team to Scale Personalized AI Agents
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is building in-house AI infrastructure (custom MTIA chips and optical interconnect work) to lower long-term AI costs and secure supply — a step that could expand gross margins as GenAI demand grows. Meta’s Custom AI Chips And Optical Links Reframe Long Term Margins
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group upgraded META to Buy, citing AI investments and pricing power — a supportive analyst signal that may attract some buyers despite near-term volatility. Erste Group Upgrades Meta (META) to Buy, Highlights the Company’s AI Investments
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is experimenting with internal CEO/exec AI agents and paying creators to boost engagement — these are strategic experiments that could help product engagement but are not guaranteed to move near-term revenue. Meta Will Pay Influencers Up to $3,000/Month to Post on Facebook
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short-interest figures in the feed appear inconsistent/zero and are not providing clear bearish pressure today (data unreliable).
• Negative Sentiment: A New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million after finding the company misled consumers and failed to protect minors from predators — a significant legal loss that raises potential damages exposure, regulatory scrutiny and reputational risk; a separate Los Angeles trial remains unresolved and could add further liability. Meta Ordered to Pay $375 Million Over Child Safety Violations
• Negative Sentiment: Additional legal pressure: a lawsuit alleges Meta targeted older workers in layoffs — another potential litigation headline that can add to near-term uncertainty. Lawsuit Claims Meta Platforms Targeted Older Workers in Layoffs

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 value of $1,574,473.97. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,108 shares in the company, valued at $7,746,335.16. This trade represents a 16.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 160,929 shares of company stock worth $103,074,540 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on META. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Pivotal Research reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $930.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Four 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $846.63.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $592.92 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $647.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $670.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $8.02 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.94%.

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.