Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Bought by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 678.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,939 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 23,477 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.5% of Quantbot Technologies LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $19,783,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. Goldstone Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 44.4% during the third quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,756,000 after buying an additional 1,153 shares during the last quarter. CW Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.8% in the 2nd quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 176,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $130,467,000 after acquiring an additional 38,432 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 13,311 shares during the period. Cherokee Insurance Co acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,321,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 36.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 3,134 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after acquiring an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $825.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $844.44.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Signed a multiyear AI content‑licensing deal with News Corp that provides paid access to news content for training/retrieval — supports AI product quality and reduces legal/quality risk around training data. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Created a new applied AI engineering organization to speed model development and partner with its Superintelligence Lab — signals accelerated product rollout and continued R&D investment that can boost ad/product monetization. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group upgraded META from “hold” to “buy”, adding a positive analyst catalyst that can support demand in the stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Company presentation at Morgan Stanley TMT conference provided additional management commentary and analyst color — useful for positioning but not an immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Arete Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating, offering little directional pressure today.
• Negative Sentiment: Under EU antitrust pressure, Meta will allow rival AI chatbots onto WhatsApp in Europe (via its Business API) for a fee for the next 12 months — a concession that reduces immediate regulatory risk but highlights EU scrutiny and could erode WhatsApp exclusivity. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales disclosed this week — CFO Susan Li sold ~56,571 shares (~$36.5M) and COO Javier Olivan also sold shares — which can create headline pressure and short‑term selling even if plan‑driven. Read More. • Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/reputational pressure from Indonesia, which issued a “stern warning” over disinformation and gambling content and pressed for greater algorithm transparency — potential compliance costs or restrictions in a large market. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Operational risks surfaced: recent U.S. user outages (short‑term engagement/ad impression risk) and reports Meta scrapped its second‑generation Olympus AI chip effort — the latter could raise execution risk and greater reliance on external GPU suppliers. Read More. • Read More.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $637.21, for a total value of $590,056.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 16,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,267,364.73. This trade represents a 5.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 160,927 shares of company stock valued at $103,155,254. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.1%

NASDAQ:META opened at $660.41 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $655.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $682.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.30. 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 (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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. The business had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The company’s revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $8.02 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate 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 paid 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 8.94%.

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.