Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Homestead Advisers Corp

Homestead Advisers Corp cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 181,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,300 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 3.2% of Homestead Advisers Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Homestead Advisers Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $133,290,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 294.7% during the first quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $86,454,000 after purchasing an additional 112,000 shares in the last quarter. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $322,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total transaction of $365,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,476,894.45. The trade was a 7.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total value of $307,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 34,631 shares in the company, valued at $20,487,699.60. This trade represents a 1.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 24,530 shares of company stock worth $15,150,029 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: High‑profile institutional support: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square has taken a multi‑billion dollar stake, signaling confidence in Meta’s AI pivot and likely attracting other institutional interest. Ackman stake
• Positive Sentiment: Strong fundamentals and analyst upside: Q4 earnings beat and bullish analyst notes (multiple price‑target raises and buy reiterations) support a constructive medium‑term view. Seeking Alpha bullish note
• Positive Sentiment: Hardware and AI investments showing early traction: Ray‑Ban AI glasses sales growth and Reality Labs repositioning give optionality beyond ads. Ray‑Ban sales
• Neutral Sentiment: Dividend declared: Meta announced a $0.525 quarterly dividend (small yield) — positive for income investors but modest versus total return expectations. Dividend PR
• Neutral Sentiment: Large capex for AI: Meta broke ground on a ~$10B data‑center campus to boost AI compute — strengthens long‑term ad/AI moat but raises near‑term capex. Data center Reuters
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider/ownership moves mixed: CEO/COO small routine sales and some funds trimming while others add — notable but not a clear directional signal alone. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Privacy and reputational risk from facial‑recognition plans for Ray‑Ban AI glasses: Reports that Meta plans a “Name Tag” feature have triggered renewed privacy concerns and could draw regulatory scrutiny or user backlash. NYT facial recognition
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/access hit: Russia moved to block WhatsApp for ~100M users, a material engagement loss in that market. WhatsApp block
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and litigation noise: Ongoing trials and witness testimony alleging platform harm raise litigation/ reputational risk that can pressure sentiment and potentially cost fines or operational changes. Trial coverage

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $639.77 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $657.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $693.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.22, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. 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 8.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $900.00 price objective (up from $870.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Benchmark lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Roth Mkm lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.