Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Buys 9,492 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Posted by Defense World Staff on Feb 19th, 2026

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 110,789 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,492 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.0% of Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $81,361,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. Vista Capital Partners Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $794,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Trust Co of the South increased its holdings 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 valued at $1,359,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management raised its position in 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 worth $3,159,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

Positive Sentiment: Large multiyear chip deal with NVIDIA — Meta agreed to buy millions of NVIDIA GPUs and adopt NVIDIA CPUs, networking and rack-scale designs, securing chip supply and lowering future latency/costs for its AI data centers; this is the primary driver of today’s upside. Nvidia to sell Meta millions of chips in multiyear deal
Positive Sentiment: Deepened strategic alliance and codesign roadmap — coverage highlights a multigenerational NVIDIA–Meta pact (Rubin/Vera architectures, confidential computing) that supports Meta’s Personal Superintelligence vision and signals durable hardware demand. NVIDIA and Meta Deepen Their AI Alliance—and the Spending Numbers Are Enormous
Positive Sentiment: Institutional buying and bullish hedge-fund activity — high-profile investors (reports about Bill Ackman and David Tepper) have increased exposure to Meta on its AI growth thesis, adding conviction behind the rally. Billionaire Bill Ackman Is Betting Big on AI David Tepper goes big on Micron, Meta and Alphabet
Neutral Sentiment: Hardware/product roadmap noise — reports that Meta may debut a smartwatch in 2026 and ongoing XR ecosystem moves (third‑party “Made for Meta” partners) suggest product expansion but limited near-term revenue impact. Meta reboots smartwatch plan, aims debut in 2026
Negative Sentiment: Insider selling by senior execs — recent filings show substantial share sales by COO Javier Olivan and CFO Susan Li, which can signal portfolio liquidity-taking and add short-term selling pressure. Olivan SEC filing Li SEC filing
Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and legal overhangs — CEO Mark Zuckerberg is testifying in a high‑profile youth‑addiction trial, Spain is probing AI-generated content on social platforms, and India is discussing age-based curbs; these risks could pressure user growth, ad targeting or incur fines. Zuckerberg faces questioning at youth addiction trial Spain to probe Meta, TikTok, X India discussing age-based restrictions
Negative Sentiment: Massive CapEx and margin risk — coverage highlights Meta’s elevated 2026 capex plans (reported guidance as high as ~$115–$135B in some writeups), which fuels concern about near‑term margin pressure and capital intensity if AI monetization lags. Marketbeat: NVIDIA and Meta Deepen Their AI Alliance

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $643.22 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $656.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $691.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Wedbush upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Evercore increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $844.29.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on META

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total value of $374,680.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,983,882. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,418 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total value of $4,106,043.86. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 73,346 shares in the company, valued at $46,924,570.42. This trade represents a 8.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 20,158 shares of company stock valued at $12,992,197 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.