Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd

Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 53.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,524 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,720 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.8% of Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $142,149,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532,568 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $37,902,948,000 after purchasing an additional 682,768 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,247,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,823,375,000 after purchasing an additional 278,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,155,393,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,352.84. The trade was a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 159,830 shares of company stock worth $102,409,190. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $890.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Roth Mkm lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Three equities research 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 MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $844.44.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Global user engagement is rising — Meta reported ~17% higher total time spent year‑over‑year across its platforms, which supports ad monetization and long‑term revenue growth. InsiderMonkey: User Engagement
• Positive Sentiment: Meta unveiled four MTIA custom AI chips and explicitly confirmed the Broadcom (AVGO) partnership — a move that helps scale inference workloads efficiently and could improve unit economics as GenAI inference rolls out. Meta AI blog: MTIA chips
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and buy‑the‑dip voices remain mixed but constructive — several pieces argue fundamentals (mid‑20% revenue growth last year, high margins) justify buying on weakness; JPMorgan reiterated an Overweight with a high target. Fool: Buy on pullback Finbold: JPMorgan target
• Neutral Sentiment: Smaller partner news (MONAT integration) expands social‑commerce use cases but is unlikely to move Meta’s top‑line materially in the near term. GlobeNewswire: MONAT integration
• Negative Sentiment: Huge AI infrastructure commitments — public reports show Meta has signed supply agreements (up to ~$27B with Nebius and large third‑party commitments) and is planning very large AI‑related CapEx — raising near‑term cash and margin pressure perceptions. CNBC: $27B Nebius deal
• Negative Sentiment: Layoff reports and related uncertainty — multiple outlets cite that Meta is considering cuts up to ~20% of staff to offset AI costs; that spurs short‑term volatility even if intended to improve long‑term efficiency. Reuters: Layoff report CNET: Workforce/AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and execution risks — reports of delays in Meta’s latest AI model and heightened scrutiny (e.g., China probing the Manus acquisition) increase downside risk and geopolitical/regulatory uncertainty. NYTimes: China scrutiny Fool: AI model delay

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $622.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $651.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $675.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The business 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 firm earned $8.02 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company 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 of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.94%.

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.