Granite Investment Partners LLC Has $22.69 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Granite Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 30,894 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,329 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.3% of Granite Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $22,688,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 294.7% in the first quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $86,454,000 after acquiring an additional 112,000 shares during the last quarter. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $322,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $648.18 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $655.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $685.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week 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.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $8.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $860.00 price target (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Arete Research set a $718.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $844.44.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reported multiyear deal to rent Google’s TPU chips to accelerate model training — expands Meta’s compute capacity quickly without buying all hardware, supporting AI roadmap and ad/AI monetization prospects. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Deal with AMD for GPUs and plans for very large 2026 capex (reported commitments and nuclear power pacts) strengthen Meta’s in‑house training scale and long‑term AI competitiveness, which investors view as revenue‑accretive over time. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is trialing stablecoin payments across Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp, targeting faster payments and adoption in underbanked markets — a potential new revenue stream and higher engagement in emerging markets. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company sued advertisers over celebrity‑impersonation scams and took technical enforcement actions — a move to shore up ad quality and preserve advertiser trust. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI hired a high‑profile Meta AI researcher — talent movement highlights competition for AI engineers but is common across the sector and not unique to Meta. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/industry comparisons show Alphabet gaining share in AI‑fuelled search and investing aggressively — useful context for competitive positioning but not an immediate earnings event. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: EU court adviser sided with regulators in a dispute over antitrust data requests — raises regulatory/compliance risk and potential costs in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: High‑profile US trial testimony about social‑media harms and new Instagram parent‑alert policies keep litigation and reputational risk elevated, which can pressure sentiment and regulatory scrutiny. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales by CFO Susan Li (55,702 shares) and recent COO selling may be read negatively by some investors, adding near‑term selling pressure despite common non‑signal reasons for sales; SEC filing available. Read More.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.18, for a total value of $370,724.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,200,374.26. The trade was a 10.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $1,793,352.84. The trade was a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 103,837 shares of company stock worth $66,356,760. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.