Fiera Capital Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Fiera Capital Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 61.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 92,893 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 35,269 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $68,219,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,212,506,000 after purchasing an additional 8,405,558 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $142,149,566,000 after buying an additional 1,532,568 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 103.5% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,998,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,475,166,000 after buying an additional 1,016,667 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Big AMD AI deal validates Meta’s AI roadmap and diversifies suppliers — Meta agreed to deploy up to ~6 gigawatts of AMD Instinct GPUs (a multi‑year, multi‑billion-dollar commitment and potential equity stake), a major catalyst for confidence in Meta’s AI infrastructure strategy. AMD clinches second mega chip supply deal, this time with Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Short interest fell meaningfully in February (down ~16.5%), reducing one source of downward pressure and making squeezes less likely to amplify sell-offs in the near term.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street reaction is mixed but constructive — some banks (e.g., BofA) see long‑term earnings upside from the AMD tie‑up despite higher capex, while others remain cautious about elevated investment intensity. Meta-AMD AI deal boosts scale but extends high capex cycle, analysts say
• Neutral Sentiment: Policy and operational items could affect costs or timelines — the White House plans talks with Big Tech on data‑center power costs (potentially easing power concerns), and Meta will appear at the Morgan Stanley TMT conference (CFO Susan Li on March 4). White House to host Big Tech in pledge to rein in power costs Meta to Participate in the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference
• Neutral Sentiment: Product/monetization runway: reports that Meta is preparing a stablecoin/payments push in H2 2026 are a longer‑term monetization positive but carry regulatory and execution risk. Meta Hopes to Launch Stablecoin Payments Project This Year
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — CFO Susan Li disclosed a large sale (18,789 shares, ~21% reduction at the time) and COO Javier Olivan sold shares recently; such high‑value insider sales can prompt investor concern about executive conviction even if they are often for diversification or taxes. SEC filing: Susan J. Li sale SEC filing: Javier Olivan sale
• Negative Sentiment: High‑profile investor exit — reports that billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller eliminated his fund’s Meta position may weigh on sentiment and be interpreted as a vote of caution by some institutional players. Billionaire Investor Stanley Druckenmiller Eliminated His Fund’s Position in Meta Platforms
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/reputational risk from ongoing litigation — court filings about encryption and child‑safety concerns could prompt regulatory scrutiny and headline risk. Meta executive warned Facebook Messenger encryption plan was ‘so irresponsible’

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.68, for a total transaction of $604,381.68. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 17,039 shares in the company, valued at $11,121,014.52. This trade represents a 5.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,789 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $650.00, for a total transaction of $12,212,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 68,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,777,200. The trade was a 21.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 48,135 shares of company stock valued at $31,063,415 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 26th. Wall Street Zen cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Arete Research set a $718.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Zacks Research cut Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $844.44.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.3%

META stock opened at $653.69 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $656.19 and its 200 day moving average is $687.00. The firm has a market cap of $1.65 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $8.02 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio 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.