IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd Buys 12,100 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 96.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,656 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 12,100 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.2% of IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $18,107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $142,149,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532,568 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after buying an additional 1,650,435 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $37,902,948,000 after buying an additional 682,768 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,155,393,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,489,621 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,694,644,000 after acquiring an additional 262,550 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $850.00 target price (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 price target (up previously from $870.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $860.00 price objective (up previously from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Three investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $845.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $429,501.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,035 shares in the company, valued at $3,570,306. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total value of $6,935,793.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,415 shares in the company, valued at $1,432,843.65. This trade represents a 82.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 24,530 shares of company stock valued at $15,150,029. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $639.77 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $657.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $693.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.22, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.94%.

Key Stories Impacting 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

About Meta Platforms

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.