Centaurus Financial Inc. Sells 3,646 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Centaurus Financial Inc. cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 32,590 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,646 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.1% of Centaurus Financial Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $23,933,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $30,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $44,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 64.8% during the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $71,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: MTIA chip roadmap & Broadcom partnership reaffirmed — Meta publicly detailed four MTIA inference chips and explicitly cited Broadcom as a partner, underlining a clearer path to scale AI inference (supports revenue/engagement from better personalization and GenAI features). Meta MTIA blog
• Positive Sentiment: Large AI infrastructure commitment — Meta’s massive capacity commitments (e.g., the reported $27B deal with Nebius) show the company is locking long-term AI compute capacity, supporting its AI roadmap even if it raises near-term capex. Nebius $27B deal
• Positive Sentiment: Monetization push for creators — Meta launched “Creator Fast Track” (guaranteed monthly payments) and highlighted nearly $3B paid to creators in 2025, which could boost content supply and ad revenue long term. Creator program
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail flagship on Fifth Avenue — Meta converted a Manhattan pop-up into a 10‑year flagship lease to showcase AI glasses and XR hardware; strategically visible but small relative to core business. Fifth Avenue lease
• Neutral Sentiment: Product pivots in VR — Meta set a June 15 deadline to separate Quest and Horizon Worlds (shutting down VR Horizon Worlds), a strategic pivot that reduces some metaverse exposure but may lower ongoing VR costs. Horizon Worlds shutdown
• Negative Sentiment: Rogue AI agent exposed sensitive data — A reported internal AI agent misconfiguration allowed access to company and user data by unauthorized employees, raising operational, security and potential regulatory risk. This kind of incident can trigger investigations and reputational damage. Rogue AI agent
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/compliance headlines — A Reuters review found Meta repeatedly failed to block illegal high‑risk financial ads in Britain despite commitments, increasing regulatory scrutiny and potential enforcement risk. Illegal ads in Britain
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — Multiple filings show large sales by COO Javier Olivan and a director, which investors often view as a negative signal even when sales have benign explanations. Olivan SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Product/timing risk and possible job cuts — Reports of a delayed Avocado AI rollout and rumors of major layoffs raise near-term execution and cost concerns that can pressure sentiment and earnings visibility. Avocado delay

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $785.00 to $820.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $850.00 target price (up from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, December 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $846.63.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.1%

NASDAQ:META opened at $615.68 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $651.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $674.78. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) 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 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 company had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $8.02 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.94%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,746,335.16. This represents a 16.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 161,965 shares of company stock valued at $103,758,552. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms 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.