Alta Capital Management LLC Buys 15,743 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Alta Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 85,213 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 15,743 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 3.5% of Alta Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Alta Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $62,579,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,506 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,587,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,223 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,641,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Trust Co of the South grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the third quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 1,850 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $672,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management now owns 4,301 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,159,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $649.81 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $658.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $693.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.94%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.28, for a total transaction of $358,602.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,454,330.36. This represents a 9.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 39,078 shares of company stock valued at $24,016,453 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines 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 stake (~10% of the fund), calling META undervalued and an AI beneficiary — a high‑profile institutional endorsement that can attract other buyers and bolster the AI-growth narrative. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Meta announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.525 per share (payable March 26) — a formal return of capital that supports yield‑seeking investors and signals board confidence in cash flow. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Hardware traction: EssilorLuxottica reported it more than tripled sales of Meta AI (Ray-Ban) glasses in 2025 — evidence Reality Labs products can scale and begin to diversify revenue beyond advertising. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Data center expansion: Meta broke ground on a $10B Indiana data‑center (and another large campus reported elsewhere), strengthening long‑term AI compute capacity that underpins ad/AI initiatives. These are long‑horizon positives but raise near‑term capex. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider activity: COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares (~$343k) in a routine filing; the sale is small relative to total insider holdings and follows a pattern of periodic sales. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Russia block: Russian authorities removed WhatsApp from an official directory and effectively blocked access for ~100M users — a material engagement loss in that market and a nearer‑term revenue/MAU headwind. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and reputational risk: Ongoing trials and testimony (including accusations that products enabled harm) increase litigation exposure and political/regulatory scrutiny that could lead to fines, restrictions or product changes. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Capex/FCF pressure: Coverage of the “Mag‑7” AI arms race highlights heavy industry capex and potential free‑cash‑flow strain — Meta’s big data‑center builds support growth but keep near‑term spending elevated. Article Title

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $885.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $845.50.

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.