Elm Partners Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Elm Partners Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 327.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,017 shares during the period. Elm Partners Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $975,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,212,506,000 after purchasing an additional 8,405,558 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532,568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 103.5% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,998,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,475,166,000 after purchasing an additional 1,016,667 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total value of $341,860.11. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 28,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,876,738.02. This represents a 1.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $663.19, for a total transaction of $342,869.23. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,033,702.62. This represents a 5.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 39,078 shares of company stock valued at $24,016,453 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square disclosed a roughly $2 billion (~10% of the fund) stake, calling META undervalued and an AI beneficiary — a high-profile endorsement that can attract other institutional buyers and supports the stock’s AI-growth narrative. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Hardware traction: EssilorLuxottica said it more than tripled sales of Meta AI (Ray‑Ban) glasses in 2025 — evidence Reality Labs products can scale and help diversify revenue beyond ads if growth continues. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Meta broke ground on a $10 billion Indiana data center to boost AI compute capacity — a multi-year investment that strengthens ad/AI infrastructure but increases near-term capex. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional buys: Fisher Asset Management and other funds boosted Meta stakes, reinforcing demand from money managers. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider activity: COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares (~$343k) — a small reduction in holdings that is typical for executives and not large enough alone to signal strategic concerns. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Operational progress: Market commentary highlights Reality Labs refocus (glasses/wearables), business‑messaging revenue up ~54%, and AI-driven productivity gains for engineers — signs management is converting AI investments into ad growth and internal efficiency. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/headwinds: Russian authorities removed WhatsApp from an official directory, effectively blocking the service for ~100M users — a material user/access disruption and negative for engagement in that market. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and reputational risk: Ongoing trials and testimony accusing Meta of enabling harm (including addiction/child‑safety claims) increase litigation risk and could pressure sentiment or lead to fines/operational changes. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Smaller legal loss: A German court ordered a Meta subsidiary to pay ~€30M to Deutsche Telekom — modest financially but a reminder of regional disputes that can add costs and distractions. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Argus restated a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $1,117.00 to $1,144.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $850.00 target price (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.50.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $668.69 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50 day moving average is $658.54 and its 200 day moving average is $694.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $8.02 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is 8.94%.

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.