Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Purchases 1,180 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 13,457 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,180 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.4% of Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,882,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Jacobsen Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the third quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management now owns 4,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,178,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 7,073 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,194,000 after buying an additional 1,334 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 7,082 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,201,000 after buying an additional 709 shares during the period. Eastern Bank boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 152,916 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $112,299,000 after buying an additional 3,459 shares during the period. Finally, WealthPLAN Partners LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC now owns 6,281 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,613,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta will roll out ads on Threads globally next week, expanding a monetization channel on a platform with 400M+ monthly users and improving the ad‑growth narrative. Meta to begin rolling out Threads ads globally
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive: Jefferies reiterated a Buy and a $910 PT and TD Cowen lifted its target to $820 while reporting Meta will double production of Meta Glasses — signals of continued analyst conviction and product investment upside. Meta pullback creates upside opportunity
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s new AI lab has delivered its first internal models, per the CTO — tangible progress on AI development that supports the company’s long‑term AI narrative and could assuage some investor concerns about the ROI of heavy AI spending. Meta’s new AI team has delivered first key models
• Neutral Sentiment: MarketBeat preview flags that the upcoming Q4 results will be driven as much by Meta’s 2026 CapEx guidance and expense outlook as by revenue/EPS — a clear catalyst that could swing the stock depending on how aggressive spending guidance is. META Q4 Earnings Preview
• Negative Sentiment: Meta faces an approaching New Mexico child‑safety trial; company lawyers are trying to limit evidence — a legal overhang that adds regulatory and reputational risk. Meta seeks to limit evidence in child safety case
• Negative Sentiment: Some analyst moves and investor actions are mixed-to-negative: UBS trimmed its price target and Meta was reported trading down after that downgrade; a director sold 580 shares — small signals but they can amplify near‑term volatility. UBS lowers Meta price target

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $821.55.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 5.7%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $647.63 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $641.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $697.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.03 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.28%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $608.35, for a total value of $314,516.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,649 shares in the company, valued at $6,478,319.15. This trade represents a 4.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total value of $341,860.11. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 28,658 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,876,738.02. The trade was a 1.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 40,632 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,572 over the last 90 days. 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.