Victory Capital Management Inc. Has $1.50 Billion Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,042,469 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 109,948 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 0.9% of Victory Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.08% of Meta Platforms worth $1,499,948,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth about $44,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 64.8% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $885.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $844.44.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square materially added META, making it ~11.4% of the fund — a high-profile institutional endorsement that can attract other funds and provide buying pressure. Bill Ackman’s Eyes Meta Platforms
• Positive Sentiment: AMD announced a multi‑year, gigawatt‑scale AI infrastructure partnership with Meta valued at over $100B, signaling Meta’s heavy, near‑term capex and commitment to build out AI data centers — positive for long‑term moats and AI roadmap execution. AMD Meta AI Deal Puts Valuation Gap
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple outlets report billionaires and hedge funds accumulating META, reflecting conviction that Meta is underpriced relative to its AI and ad-recovery prospects — this flows into demand and sentiment. Billionaires Are Loading Up
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage highlights Meta’s cheapness vs. the S&P and its AI ambitions (articles exploring $800 targets and comparative valuation). These narratives support longer‑term upside but are not immediate catalysts. Nvidia and Meta Platforms Are Now Cheaper
• Neutral Sentiment: Sheryl Sandberg joining the board of an AI data‑center company (Nscale) and large fundraising in the sector indicate expanding data‑center capacity and a growing ecosystem that indirectly benefits Meta’s AI ambitions. Impact is positive but indirect. The Former Coal Miner in the Middle of the A.I. Data Center Boom
• Negative Sentiment: Surging oil and energy prices are cited as a risk, raising operating and data‑center cooling costs; macro energy cost pressure could weigh on margins and act as a near‑term headwind. Surging Oil Prices Threaten NVIDIA, Amazon, and Meta

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.4%

META stock opened at $644.86 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $654.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $680.69. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $8.02 EPS. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total transaction of $5,106,100.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,352.84. This represents a 74.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was 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. Insiders have sold a total of 160,410 shares of company stock worth $102,809,055 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.