Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 2,880 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,566 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,880 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 0.9% of Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $14,339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 64.8% during the third quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $644.86 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $654.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $681.65. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.44, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS 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 business had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $8.02 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on META. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $860.00 price target (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Arete Research restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $844.44.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Closed multiyear AI/content and chip-supply deals that should improve model training quality and reduce sourcing risk — supports AI product road map and longer-term ad/engagement upside. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Signed paid content-licensing arrangements (reported coverage highlights a News Corp deal) and created a new applied-AI engineering organization to speed model development — both point to faster commercialization of AI features that can lift ad yields. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Prominent investors and some brokers continue to list META as a buy or top idea (e.g., inclusion on Bill Ackman-related lists and select upgrades), supporting demand from long-term investors. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Company presented at investor conferences and several sell‑side reports reiterated valuation/scale arguments — useful for analyst color but not an immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Wall Street downgrades and cut price targets citing concerns that Meta is “lagging on AI” — raises short-term growth and competition worries and likely contributed to intraday selling pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales disclosed: CFO Susan Li sold roughly $36.5M and COO Javier Olivan also executed significant sales — while often planned (tax/vesting), these filers increase headline risk and can create short-term supply. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and competition pressure in Europe and Indonesia — Meta agreed to allow rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp in Europe (for a fee) to head off EU action, and Indonesia issued warnings over disinformation and algorithm transparency, adding compliance and revenue uncertainty in key markets. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: 13F filings show several high‑profile managers trimmed or exited META in Q4 — signals profit‑taking and reduced conviction from some large investors. Read More.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total value of $5,106,100.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,793,352.84. The trade was a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 160,927 shares of company stock valued at $103,155,254 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.