Appleton Partners Inc. MA Has $24.83 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Appleton Partners Inc. MA lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,811 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,205 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.7% of Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $24,830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,212,506,000 after purchasing an additional 8,405,558 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during 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 period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 103.5% in 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 buying an additional 1,016,667 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $20,487,699.60. This trade represents a 1.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $429,501.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 6,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,570,306. This trade represents a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 24,530 shares of company stock valued at $15,150,029 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Arete Research set a $718.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Three equities 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.50.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $639.77 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $657.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $693.35. The firm has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.28. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The company had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $8.02 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.94%.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

About Meta Platforms

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.