Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Trims Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 686,774 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 49,124 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 2.6% of Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $504,353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $142,149,566,000 after buying an additional 1,532,568 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in 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 worth $64,158,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,650,435 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $37,902,948,000 after acquiring an additional 682,768 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $23,155,393,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.8% in 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Oppenheimer lowered Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $845.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,570,306. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total value of $4,190,037.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 88,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,857,980.20. This represents a 7.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 38,561 shares of company stock worth $23,673,584. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: High-profile bullish commentary: Jim Cramer publicly called META a buy, reinforcing retail and momentum interest in the name and supporting short-term demand. Jim Cramer on Meta Platforms (META): “I just think this one’s a buy”
• Positive Sentiment: Long-term AI investment thesis: A Seeking Alpha piece highlights aggressive AI capex and forecasts 22–31% near-term revenue growth, arguing Meta can sustain growth despite margin pressure — a supportive fundamental narrative for investors focused on multi-year returns. Meta Platforms: Follow The Numbers
• Positive Sentiment: Ad tools & ad revenue durability: A new free Meta Ads Rolling Reach Report for e-commerce advertisers could help optimize campaigns and demonstrate continued advertiser demand for Meta’s platforms. Incremental ad product adoption supports the advertising revenue outlook. growthzacks Releases Meta Ads Rolling Reach Report Generator for ECommerce Advertisers to Measure Audience Saturation
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/shopper endorsements: Recent retail and analyst write-ups (e.g., The Motley Fool) continue to feature META as a top growth pick, backing investor interest and buy-side conviction. 1 Top Growth Stock to Buy in February
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation/peer comparisons: Pieces comparing Broadcom and Meta highlight AI exposure but present them as different risk/reward profiles; useful for allocation decisions but not an immediate catalyst. Broadcom or Meta Platforms? Which Is the Better Buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Market context: Broader AI-led rotation and macro commentary (Zacks, market note) are lifting tech sentiment generally; Meta participates in that theme but is also idiosyncratically exposed to legal/regulatory news. Bulls Take Control Amid New AI Spending & Expanding Breadth
• Negative Sentiment: Alarming internal findings made public: Unsealed documents report a Meta researcher warned of up to 500,000 daily child exploitation cases on Facebook/Instagram — a reputational and litigation risk that can amplify regulatory scrutiny and attract settlement/penalty concerns. Meta researcher warned of 500K child exploitation cases daily on Facebook and Instagram platforms
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory pressure in EU over WhatsApp AI policy: The European Commission has charged Meta with breaching antitrust rules and threatened interim measures to force WhatsApp access for rival AI assistants — potential changes could limit product control and create compliance costs. EU threatens Meta with interim measure for blocking AI rivals from WhatsApp
• Negative Sentiment: Legal setbacks and trials: Landmark US trials accuse Meta of designing addictive products; separately, a German court ordered Meta’s Edge Network to pay Deutsche Telekom ~€30M — legal exposure and adverse rulings increase uncertainty and headline risk. Meta subsidiary loses appeal against Deutsche Telekom over network services Meta and YouTube Created ‘Digital Casinos,’ Lawyers Argue in Landmark Trial

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $670.72 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $657.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $694.43.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The firm 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 for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $8.02 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid 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 of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.94%.

Meta Platforms 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.