Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stake Reduced by Nicollet Investment Management Inc.

Nicollet Investment Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,728 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 832 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 5.4% of Nicollet Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Nicollet Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,691,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the 2nd quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total transaction of $374,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,983,882. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of the stock in a transaction on Sunday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total value of $1,574,473.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,746,335.16. This represents a 16.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 103,837 shares of company stock worth $66,356,760. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on META. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. 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 note on Thursday, January 29th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $885.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $910.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $844.44.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $648.18 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $655.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $685.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.58, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.28. 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 released its 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 business had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $8.02 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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 $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.94%.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reported multiyear deal to rent Google’s TPU chips to accelerate model training — expands Meta’s compute capacity quickly without buying all hardware, supporting AI roadmap and ad/AI monetization prospects. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Deal with AMD for GPUs and plans for very large 2026 capex (reported commitments and nuclear power pacts) strengthen Meta’s in‑house training scale and long‑term AI competitiveness, which investors view as revenue‑accretive over time. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is trialing stablecoin payments across Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp, targeting faster payments and adoption in underbanked markets — a potential new revenue stream and higher engagement in emerging markets. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company sued advertisers over celebrity‑impersonation scams and took technical enforcement actions — a move to shore up ad quality and preserve advertiser trust. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI hired a high‑profile Meta AI researcher — talent movement highlights competition for AI engineers but is common across the sector and not unique to Meta. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/industry comparisons show Alphabet gaining share in AI‑fuelled search and investing aggressively — useful context for competitive positioning but not an immediate earnings event. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: EU court adviser sided with regulators in a dispute over antitrust data requests — raises regulatory/compliance risk and potential costs in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: High‑profile US trial testimony about social‑media harms and new Instagram parent‑alert policies keep litigation and reputational risk elevated, which can pressure sentiment and regulatory scrutiny. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales by CFO Susan Li (55,702 shares) and recent COO selling may be read negatively by some investors, adding near‑term selling pressure despite common non‑signal reasons for sales; SEC filing available. Read More.

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.