Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Pictet North America Advisors SA

Pictet North America Advisors SA trimmed its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,029 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 943 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.1% of Pictet North America Advisors SA’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Pictet North America Advisors SA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,802,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Cyr Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Cyr Financial Inc. now owns 1,659 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Kwmg LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Kwmg LLC now owns 629 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $415,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,193 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,768,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 23,024 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $15,198,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Community Trust NA lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 8,359 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,518,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:META 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. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $633.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $656.17. The firm 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 (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The company had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $8.02 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $910.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $872.00 price target (up from $830.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $843.57.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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?

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total value of $5,106,100.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,793,352.84. The trade was a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 160,931 shares of company stock valued at $102,997,526 in the last three months. 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.