Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Acquired by Clare Market Investments LLC

Clare Market Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,901 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,180 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 4.5% of Clare Market Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Clare Market Investments LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $22,693,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.0% during the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,257 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $923,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.1% in the third quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors now owns 21,320 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $15,656,000 after acquiring an additional 2,471 shares during the last quarter. Allianz SE increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz SE now owns 79,832 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $58,627,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $71,000. Finally, MGB Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. MGB Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,241 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $914,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.1%

META stock opened at $660.41 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $655.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $682.50. The company has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.30. 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 fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 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 firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $8.02 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Signed a multiyear AI content‑licensing deal with News Corp that provides paid access to news content for training/retrieval — supports AI product quality and reduces legal/quality risk around training data. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Created a new applied AI engineering organization to speed model development and partner with its Superintelligence Lab — signals accelerated product rollout and continued R&D investment that can boost ad/product monetization. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group upgraded META from “hold” to “buy”, adding a positive analyst catalyst that can support demand in the stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Company presentation at Morgan Stanley TMT conference provided additional management commentary and analyst color — useful for positioning but not an immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Arete Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating, offering little directional pressure today.
• Negative Sentiment: Under EU antitrust pressure, Meta will allow rival AI chatbots onto WhatsApp in Europe (via its Business API) for a fee for the next 12 months — a concession that reduces immediate regulatory risk but highlights EU scrutiny and could erode WhatsApp exclusivity. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales disclosed this week — CFO Susan Li sold ~56,571 shares (~$36.5M) and COO Javier Olivan also sold shares — which can create headline pressure and short‑term selling even if plan‑driven. Read More. • Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/reputational pressure from Indonesia, which issued a “stern warning” over disinformation and gambling content and pressed for greater algorithm transparency — potential compliance costs or restrictions in a large market. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Operational risks surfaced: recent U.S. user outages (short‑term engagement/ad impression risk) and reports Meta scrapped its second‑generation Olympus AI chip effort — the latter could raise execution risk and greater reliance on external GPU suppliers. Read More. • Read More.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Sunday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total transaction of $1,574,473.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,746,335.16. The trade was a 16.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 160,927 shares of company stock valued at $103,155,254. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wedbush increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $850.00 price objective (up from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 target price on the stock. Three equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $844.44.

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.