Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stake Reduced by Occidental Asset Management LLC

Occidental Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,458 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,502 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.2% of Occidental Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Occidental Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $17,227,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of META. Goldstone Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 44.4% during the third quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,756,000 after acquiring an additional 1,153 shares during the last quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,011,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 55,431 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $43,790,000 after acquiring an additional 5,224 shares during the last quarter. CW Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 27.8% during the second quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 176,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $130,467,000 after purchasing an additional 38,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.0% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 210,526 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $155,387,000 after purchasing an additional 20,912 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Threads ad rollout expands immediate ad-monetization optionality for a 400M+ MAU product, supporting near-term revenue upside. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors point to attractive valuation after the pullback (multiple firms reiterating buys and high price targets), encouraging value-oriented buying. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Operational/tech progress: Meta’s AI lab reportedly delivered its first in-house models, a signal that internal AI capability is advancing and could support future product monetization and efficiency gains. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Hardware/metaverse upside: TD Cowen raised its PT and Meta plans to ramp Meta Glasses production, which supports longer-term diversification of revenue streams. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta suspended teen access to its AI characters globally while it builds a teen-specific version — a precautionary move that reduces regulatory/PR risk but could slow feature engagement and short-term monetization from those users. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming earnings (Jan. 28) and especially 2026 CapEx guidance are the primary near-term catalysts — strong revenue/AI updates could lift shares, while higher-than-expected CapEx would likely pressure the stock. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider activity: COO Javier Oliván’s routine share sales continue to be disclosed; amounts are modest relative to his holdings and the company, so impact is limited. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk: UK regulator Ofcom opened an investigation into Meta’s responsiveness on WhatsApp data requests, increasing compliance uncertainty in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk: Meta is contesting evidence limits ahead of a New Mexico child-safety trial — unfavorable rulings or negative publicity could weigh on sentiment. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst pressure: Some firms have trimmed price targets (Stifel cut its PT; UBS trimmed earlier), reflecting sensitivity to guidance and spending — these moves can cap near-term upside if guidance disappoints. Read More.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on META. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $910.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson set a $825.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $870.00 target price (down previously from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms 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 issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $818.57.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $658.76 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $642.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $696.74. The firm has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $6.03 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. 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 9.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total transaction of $341,860.11. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 28,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,876,738.02. This represents a 1.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.28, for a total transaction of $358,602.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,454,330.36. The trade was a 9.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 40,115 shares of company stock worth $24,668,044. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.