Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Acquires 10,129 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 89,188 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,129 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.9% of Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $65,498,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $30,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the 2nd quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 26th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $872.00 price target (up from $830.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $844.44.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total transaction of $5,106,100.36. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,793,352.84. This trade represents a 74.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total value of $1,574,473.97. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,108 shares in the company, valued at $7,746,335.16. This represents a 16.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 103,320 shares of company stock valued at $66,026,381. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $648.18 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $1.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $655.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $684.58.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $8.02 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side 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 announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.94%.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reported multiyear deal to rent Google’s TPU chips to accelerate model training — expands Meta’s compute capacity quickly without buying all hardware, supporting AI roadmap and ad/AI monetization prospects. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Deal with AMD for GPUs and plans for very large 2026 capex (reported commitments and nuclear power pacts) strengthen Meta’s in‑house training scale and long‑term AI competitiveness, which investors view as revenue‑accretive over time. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is trialing stablecoin payments across Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp, targeting faster payments and adoption in underbanked markets — a potential new revenue stream and higher engagement in emerging markets. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company sued advertisers over celebrity‑impersonation scams and took technical enforcement actions — a move to shore up ad quality and preserve advertiser trust. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI hired a high‑profile Meta AI researcher — talent movement highlights competition for AI engineers but is common across the sector and not unique to Meta. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/industry comparisons show Alphabet gaining share in AI‑fuelled search and investing aggressively — useful context for competitive positioning but not an immediate earnings event. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: EU court adviser sided with regulators in a dispute over antitrust data requests — raises regulatory/compliance risk and potential costs in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: High‑profile US trial testimony about social‑media harms and new Instagram parent‑alert policies keep litigation and reputational risk elevated, which can pressure sentiment and regulatory scrutiny. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales by CFO Susan Li (55,702 shares) and recent COO selling may be read negatively by some investors, adding near‑term selling pressure despite common non‑signal reasons for sales; SEC filing available. Read More.

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.