Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stake Raised by Alps Advisors Inc.

Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 42.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,932 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,541 shares during the quarter. Alps Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,106,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 worth $6,212,506,000 after acquiring an additional 8,405,558 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 1,016,667 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total value of $307,040.40. Following the sale, the insider owned 34,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,487,699.60. This trade represents a 1.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total transaction of $6,935,793.90. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,432,843.65. The trade was a 82.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 23,413 shares of company stock valued at $14,472,032 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.5%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $639.77 on Monday. 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 fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $657.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $693.34. The firm has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $8.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $885.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $785.00 to $820.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Argus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $800.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Evercore lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $845.50.

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 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.