Ellsworth Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Ellsworth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.6% of Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,841,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Goldstone Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 44.4% in the third quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,756,000 after purchasing an additional 1,153 shares during the last quarter. CW Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 27.8% in the second quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 176,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $130,467,000 after purchasing an additional 38,432 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $38,373,000 after buying an additional 13,311 shares during the last quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $25,741,000 after buying an additional 1,657 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,487,000 after buying an additional 3,336 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, 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 transaction of $36,471,323.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $632.02, for a total value of $366,571.60. Following the sale, the director owned 4,427 shares in the company, valued at $2,797,952.54. The trade was a 11.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 160,931 shares of company stock worth $102,997,526. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $575.05 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $633.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $656.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.47, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.31. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve 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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. The business had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $8.02 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $843.57.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI’s shutdown of the Sora app removes a high-profile competitor to short-form video (Reels), easing competitive pressure on Meta’s ad franchise and Reels monetization runway. This bolsters the case for sustainable ad growth and margin leverage.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/investor bullishness and stock-pickers calling Meta a buy: a Seeking Alpha piece argues Meta’s Q4 beat, AI-driven ad improvements, and tighter discretionary spending make it a buy (potential upside to sentiment). Meta Platforms: Time To Double Down
• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs / broader macro narrative: coverage noting cheaper tech valuations and a new “opportunity” view on AI-exposed large caps supports rotation back into names like Meta as AI optimism normalizes. High Growth, Lower Valuations
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming quarterly report is a near-term catalyst—investors are focused on Q1 guidance, ad trends, and AI monetization progress; the preview outlines what to watch but outcome uncertainty makes this a binary event. What to Expect From Meta Platforms’ Next Quarterly Earnings Report
• Neutral Sentiment: Market microstructure: trading commentary shows Meta’s price action is relatively controlled with lower intraday volatility compared with high-beta AI plays, which may attract institutional flows looking for large-cap AI exposure with lower volatility. Meta Vs. SMCI: 1 AI Trade, 2 Risk Profiles
• Neutral Sentiment: Product and ad tools: guides and coverage on Meta’s Collection Ads and ad agency use-cases reinforce steady demand from e-commerce advertisers but are incremental rather than immediate share-movers. Meta Collection Ads For eCommerce Businesses
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade to “Hold” injects short-term headwinds for sentiment—downgrades can pressure shares and reduce the pool of buyers at current levels. Analyst Downgrades Meta Platforms (META) to ‘Hold’
• Negative Sentiment: Lingering concerns — higher AI spending, legal/regulatory risks and geopolitical noise — continue to cap multiple expansion and leave shares sensitive to negative headlines. General market write-ups highlight these ongoing risks. What’s going on with Meta stock today?

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.