Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. Buys New Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,100 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,561,000. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.0% of Caldwell Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the 2nd quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total value of $6,935,793.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,432,843.65. This represents a 82.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total value of $429,501.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 6,035 shares in the company, valued at $3,570,306. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 40,632 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,572 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. Benchmark cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $925.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $821.55.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

Meta Platforms Trading Up 5.7%

Shares of META stock opened at $647.63 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $641.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $697.57. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.61, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.29.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.03 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given 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 of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.