Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Banque Pictet & Cie SA

Banque Pictet & Cie SA lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 340,526 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 11,338 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.3% of Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $224,778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Goldstone Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 44.4% during the 3rd quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,756,000 after purchasing an additional 1,153 shares during the period. CW Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.8% during the 2nd quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 176,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $130,467,000 after purchasing an additional 38,432 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $38,373,000 after purchasing an additional 13,311 shares during the period. Becker Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $25,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,487,000 after purchasing an additional 3,336 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $605.38, for a total transaction of $560,581.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 13,335 shares in the company, valued at $8,072,742.30. The trade was a 6.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 160,931 shares of company stock worth $102,997,526. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI’s shutdown of the Sora app removes a high-profile competitor to short-form video (Reels), easing competitive pressure on Meta’s ad franchise and Reels monetization runway. This bolsters the case for sustainable ad growth and margin leverage.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/investor bullishness and stock-pickers calling Meta a buy: a Seeking Alpha piece argues Meta’s Q4 beat, AI-driven ad improvements, and tighter discretionary spending make it a buy (potential upside to sentiment). Meta Platforms: Time To Double Down
• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs / broader macro narrative: coverage noting cheaper tech valuations and a new “opportunity” view on AI-exposed large caps supports rotation back into names like Meta as AI optimism normalizes. High Growth, Lower Valuations
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming quarterly report is a near-term catalyst—investors are focused on Q1 guidance, ad trends, and AI monetization progress; the preview outlines what to watch but outcome uncertainty makes this a binary event. What to Expect From Meta Platforms’ Next Quarterly Earnings Report
• Neutral Sentiment: Market microstructure: trading commentary shows Meta’s price action is relatively controlled with lower intraday volatility compared with high-beta AI plays, which may attract institutional flows looking for large-cap AI exposure with lower volatility. Meta Vs. SMCI: 1 AI Trade, 2 Risk Profiles
• Neutral Sentiment: Product and ad tools: guides and coverage on Meta’s Collection Ads and ad agency use-cases reinforce steady demand from e-commerce advertisers but are incremental rather than immediate share-movers. Meta Collection Ads For eCommerce Businesses
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade to “Hold” injects short-term headwinds for sentiment—downgrades can pressure shares and reduce the pool of buyers at current levels. Analyst Downgrades Meta Platforms (META) to ‘Hold’
• Negative Sentiment: Lingering concerns — higher AI spending, legal/regulatory risks and geopolitical noise — continue to cap multiple expansion and leave shares sensitive to negative headlines. General market write-ups highlight these ongoing risks. What’s going on with Meta stock today?

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $843.57.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $575.05 on Wednesday. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $633.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $656.17.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The company had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $8.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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.