Annex Advisory Services LLC Increases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 142,673 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,022 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.8% of Annex Advisory Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Annex Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $94,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. RBA Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. RBA Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,471 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,252,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the period. Abundance Wealth Counselors grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 77.8% in the 4th quarter. Abundance Wealth Counselors now owns 16,433 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,847,000 after acquiring an additional 7,189 shares during the period. San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,224 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,749,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461 shares during the period. Bernardo Wealth Planning LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Bernardo Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,498 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $989,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BCS Wealth Management increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 128.5% in the 4th quarter. BCS Wealth Management now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street support: Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” and $850 price target and other firms (Deutsche Bank, Citizens) remain constructive, highlighting AI-driven ad upside and margin leverage. Guggenheim Reaffirms Buy Rating, $850 PT
• Positive Sentiment: Deutsche Bank and others emphasize AI investments could strengthen Meta’s core advertising product and lift monetization, supporting bullish price targets. This Is the Impact of AI on Meta Platforms’ Core Advertising Business
• Positive Sentiment: Product and engagement catalysts — Threads added Live Chats and Meta Quest gained DirecTV streaming, which could help user engagement and new content monetization paths. Live Chats Are Now on Threads You Can Now Stream DirecTV on Your Meta Quest Headset
• Neutral Sentiment: Account and UX improvements: Meta is revamping its cross-app Meta Account system to streamline logins and device management — a product-level improvement with unclear near-term revenue impact. Meta Is Revamping Its Cross-App Management System
• Neutral Sentiment: Safety/parent tools: Meta added a feature letting parents see topics teens ask Meta AI about; reputationally positive but unlikely to move near-term revenue. Parents Can Now See What Their Kids Are Asking Meta AI About
• Negative Sentiment: Large workforce reduction: Meta will cut ~8,000 roles (10% of staff) and freeze hiring for ~6,000 open positions to “run more efficiently” and offset AI capex — the scale of the move signals heavy near-term restructuring and underscores how costly Meta’s AI buildout remains. Meta Prepares 8,000 Layoffs to Offset AI Infrastructure Investments
• Negative Sentiment: Employee-tracking controversy: Reports that Meta is logging employee keystrokes, clicks and mouse activity to train AI raise privacy/ethical concerns and potential regulatory scrutiny. Meta Is Tracking Employee Usage on Google, LinkedIn, Wikipedia
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and ESG pressures: New shareholder proposals, recent court rulings around teen addiction liability and a consumer suit over ad-related scams increase potential legal costs and reputational risk. Meta Verdict Poised to Shift Platform Liability Consumer Watchdog Group Files Suit
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: COO Javier Olivan disclosed multi-hundred-thousand-dollar share sales under a 10b5-1 plan, a data point some investors watch as a mild negative signal. SEC Filing: Javier Olivan Share Sales

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total transaction of $1,748,612.10. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,645,103.65. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief technology officer owned 2,841 shares in the company, valued at $1,793,352.84. This trade represents a 74.01% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 166,117 shares of company stock valued at $106,367,778. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on META shares. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 30th. KeyCorp cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $855.00 to $760.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 price objective (up from $870.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $837.09.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.3%

META opened at $659.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.31. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $627.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $650.33. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $517.50 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.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $8.02 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

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.