Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd Invests $388.43 Million in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 528,917 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $388,426,000. Meta Platforms makes up about 3.8% of Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $44,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the 2nd quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on META shares. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $800.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $885.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $845.50.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $639.77 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $657.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $693.34. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $8.02 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.94%.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: High‑profile institutional support: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square has taken a multi‑billion dollar stake, signaling confidence in Meta’s AI pivot and likely attracting other institutional interest. Ackman stake
• Positive Sentiment: Strong fundamentals and analyst upside: Q4 earnings beat and bullish analyst notes (multiple price‑target raises and buy reiterations) support a constructive medium‑term view. Seeking Alpha bullish note
• Positive Sentiment: Hardware and AI investments showing early traction: Ray‑Ban AI glasses sales growth and Reality Labs repositioning give optionality beyond ads. Ray‑Ban sales
• Neutral Sentiment: Dividend declared: Meta announced a $0.525 quarterly dividend (small yield) — positive for income investors but modest versus total return expectations. Dividend PR
• Neutral Sentiment: Large capex for AI: Meta broke ground on a ~$10B data‑center campus to boost AI compute — strengthens long‑term ad/AI moat but raises near‑term capex. Data center Reuters
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider/ownership moves mixed: CEO/COO small routine sales and some funds trimming while others add — notable but not a clear directional signal alone. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Privacy and reputational risk from facial‑recognition plans for Ray‑Ban AI glasses: Reports that Meta plans a “Name Tag” feature have triggered renewed privacy concerns and could draw regulatory scrutiny or user backlash. NYT facial recognition
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/access hit: Russia moved to block WhatsApp for ~100M users, a material engagement loss in that market. WhatsApp block
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and litigation noise: Ongoing trials and witness testimony alleging platform harm raise litigation/ reputational risk that can pressure sentiment and potentially cost fines or operational changes. Trial coverage

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total value of $341,860.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 28,658 shares in the company, valued at $18,876,738.02. The trade was a 1.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $663.19, for a total transaction of $342,869.23. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,033,702.62. This trade represents a 5.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 23,413 shares of company stock valued at $14,472,032 over the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.