Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Acquired by Chapman Investment Management LLC

Chapman Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2,402.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,859 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 9,465 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 5.2% of Chapman Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Chapman Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $44,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, December 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $810.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 26th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $872.00 price target (up from $830.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price target on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $845.50.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.5%

META stock opened at $639.77 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $657.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $693.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.22, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. The firm 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $8.02 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid 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 is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.28, for a total value of $358,602.40. Following the sale, the director owned 5,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,454,330.36. This trade represents a 9.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 value of $342,869.23. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,033,702.62. This represents a 5.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 23,413 shares of company stock valued at $14,472,032 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

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.