Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Position Reduced by Ceera Investments LLC

Ceera Investments LLC decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,075 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 5.1% of Ceera Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Ceera Investments LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Goldstone Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 44.4% during the 3rd 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 period. CW Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 27.8% in the 2nd quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 176,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $130,467,000 after buying an additional 38,432 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 34.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $38,373,000 after buying an additional 13,311 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 210,526 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $155,387,000 after buying an additional 20,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 84,687 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $62,507,000 after acquiring an additional 4,473 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citizens Jmp reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 target price (up previously from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $825.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Benchmark cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $810.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research 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 issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $845.50.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $639.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $657.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $693.35.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. The company had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The firm’s revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $8.02 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total value of $6,935,793.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,415 shares in the company, valued at $1,432,843.65. This trade represents a 82.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 34,631 shares in the company, valued at $20,487,699.60. This trade represents a 1.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 24,530 shares of company stock valued at $15,150,029 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.