Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Purchases 7,022 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 34.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 27,181 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,022 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.3% of Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $20,207,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $44,000. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $663.19, for a total transaction of $342,869.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,098 shares in the company, valued at $6,033,702.62. This trade represents a 5.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total value of $341,860.11. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 28,658 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,876,738.02. The trade was a 1.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 23,413 shares of company stock valued at $14,472,032. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on META. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $754.00 to $849.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wedbush lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.50.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $639.77 on Monday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.22, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day moving average of $657.63 and a 200-day moving average of $693.34.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 last year, the business posted $8.02 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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.