Portside Wealth Group LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,487 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,524 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.2% of Portside Wealth Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Portside Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,436,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd grew 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 purchasing an additional 112,000 shares during the last quarter. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $322,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: High‑profile institutional support: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square has taken a multi‑billion dollar stake, signaling confidence in Meta’s AI pivot and likely attracting other institutional interest. Ackman stake
• Positive Sentiment: Strong fundamentals and analyst upside: Q4 earnings beat and bullish analyst notes (multiple price‑target raises and buy reiterations) support a constructive medium‑term view. Seeking Alpha bullish note
• Positive Sentiment: Hardware and AI investments showing early traction: Ray‑Ban AI glasses sales growth and Reality Labs repositioning give optionality beyond ads. Ray‑Ban sales
• Neutral Sentiment: Dividend declared: Meta announced a $0.525 quarterly dividend (small yield) — positive for income investors but modest versus total return expectations. Dividend PR
• Neutral Sentiment: Large capex for AI: Meta broke ground on a ~$10B data‑center campus to boost AI compute — strengthens long‑term ad/AI moat but raises near‑term capex. Data center Reuters
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider/ownership moves mixed: CEO/COO small routine sales and some funds trimming while others add — notable but not a clear directional signal alone. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Privacy and reputational risk from facial‑recognition plans for Ray‑Ban AI glasses: Reports that Meta plans a “Name Tag” feature have triggered renewed privacy concerns and could draw regulatory scrutiny or user backlash. NYT facial recognition
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/access hit: Russia moved to block WhatsApp for ~100M users, a material engagement loss in that market. WhatsApp block
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and litigation noise: Ongoing trials and witness testimony alleging platform harm raise litigation/ reputational risk that can pressure sentiment and potentially cost fines or operational changes. Trial coverage

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 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 stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $885.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $845.50.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $639.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $657.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $693.40. 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 $1.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.28.

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 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 firm’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $8.02 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.94%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $663.19, for a total value of $342,869.23. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,033,702.62. This represents a 5.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total transaction of $341,860.11. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 28,658 shares in the company, valued at $18,876,738.02. The trade was a 1.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 24,530 shares of company stock worth $15,150,029 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.