Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. Reduces Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. cut its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 25.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,400 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,200 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 2.3% of Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,700,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,212,506,000 after purchasing an additional 8,405,558 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $142,149,566,000 after buying an additional 1,532,568 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 103.5% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,998,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,475,166,000 after acquiring an additional 1,016,667 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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: 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director owned 6,167 shares in the company, valued at $3,983,882. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 55,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.61, for a total transaction of $35,293,344.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,354,781.46. This represents a 80.86% decrease in their position. 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 corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $648.18 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.58, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.28. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $655.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $685.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The company had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $8.02 EPS. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $900.00 price target (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 24th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Erste Group Bank cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $844.44.

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.