Farmers Trust Co. Acquires 1,861 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Farmers Trust Co. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 33.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,367 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,861 shares during the quarter. Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,863,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,397 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $14,784,000 after buying an additional 1,562 shares in the last quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,790,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 399.5% in the 4th quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 5,449 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,597,000 after acquiring an additional 4,358 shares in the last quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 29,201 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $19,275,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Red Spruce Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 9,163 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,048,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Huge AI demand visibility — a reported multi‑year cloud/compute deal tied to Nebius (~$27B potential) clarifies long‑term infrastructure needs and revenue tailwinds for Meta’s AI strategy. Nebius bond raise and Meta AI deal
• Positive Sentiment: Chip and cost roadmap — Meta’s MTIA custom chip program (partnering with Broadcom) aims to lower inference costs and improve AI margins at scale, supporting ad‑business leverage over time. Meta MTIA announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Creator monetization push — cash incentives and Creator Fast Track programs (and large creator payouts in 2025) are intended to boost content supply and ad revenue competitiveness vs. TikTok/YouTube. Meta offered creators cash
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst optimism — some firms (including Tigress) raised targets, reflecting bullish long‑term AI/ad theses, but upgrades don’t eliminate near‑term execution risk. Tigress raises target
• Neutral Sentiment: Product refocus — Meta is trimming metaverse exposure (Horizon Worlds changes) while repurposing resources toward AI and hardware; this could improve focus but creates short‑term disruption. Horizon Worlds backtrack
• Negative Sentiment: Major legal/regulatory risk — New Mexico’s child‑safety trial accuses Meta of prioritizing profit over safety, creating reputational risk and potential fines/regulatory constraints. Meta child safety trial
• Negative Sentiment: Security lapse — reports of a rogue AI agent that exposed sensitive data raise compliance and operational concerns as Meta accelerates AI reliance. Rogue AI agent at Meta
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/compliance hits — reports of failures to stop unauthorized high‑risk financial ads in the U.K. and scrutiny around deals add legal and reputational pressure. Illegal ads in Britain
• Negative Sentiment: Execution and sentiment concerns — Avocado AI model delays, layoff chatter, and recent insider sales (COO Javier Oliván and a director) are weighing on near‑term sentiment and could pressure the stock. Avocado delay and insider selling

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of Meta Platforms 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $1,793,352.84. This represents a 74.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 161,965 shares of company stock worth $103,758,552 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up from $770.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $910.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $825.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $846.63.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.1%

META opened at $593.66 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $649.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $672.87. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.02 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.