Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Acquired by Sandbox Financial Partners LLC

Sandbox Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,301 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 999 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.3% of Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,627,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Infusive Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.7% in the first quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,620 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,614,000 after buying an additional 2,285 shares during the last quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,011,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 55,431 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $43,790,000 after acquiring an additional 5,224 shares during the last quarter. CW Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.0% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 210,526 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $155,387,000 after purchasing an additional 20,912 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s strategic AI push: Market reaction is mildly positive to Meta’s recent ~+$2B acquisition of AI agent startup Manus — investors see it as a direct revenue/advertising adjutant (agentic automation for businesses) that could accelerate AI-driven monetization. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street and pundits still constructive: Rosenblatt and other brokers have reiterated buy ratings and some commentators (e.g., Jim Cramer) are bullish on buying META, supporting demand for shares on conviction that AI investments can pay off long term. Read More. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Strong product monetization trend: reports on Instagram Reels scaling into a multibillion-dollar ad product underpin medium-term revenue growth, but this is already priced in and won’t offset near-term capex concerns by itself. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and legal risk: the U.S. Virgin Islands filed suit alleging Meta profited from scam ads and failed to protect children — a headline that raises litigation, reputational and potential regulatory enforcement risk. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Investigation alleges deceptive conduct: a Reuters-based investigation (covered here) says Meta created a “playbook” to fend off pressure and may have tried to mislead regulators about fake/ad scam handling — this amplifies regulatory scrutiny and could pressure near-term sentiment. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling / governance headlines: recent small-block sales by COO Javier Oliván and CLO Jennifer Newstead have produced negative headlines (but are small relative to overall insider holdings). Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical/regulatory scrutiny on acquisition: Manus’ founders’ China ties have drawn attention in Washington — potential extra review or integration delays increase execution risk for the AI deal. Read More.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total transaction of $341,860.11. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 28,658 shares in the company, valued at $18,876,738.02. This trade represents 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 at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total value of $374,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,983,882. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 42,074 shares of company stock valued at $26,269,739. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer downgraded Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $950.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $870.00 target price (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $820.22.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of META stock opened at $660.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $649.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $705.38.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.03 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 9.28%.

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.