Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. Boosts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 52.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,768 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,990 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.9% of Harold Davidson & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the 2nd 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 period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Big AMD AI deal validates Meta’s AI roadmap and diversifies suppliers — Meta agreed to deploy up to ~6 gigawatts of AMD Instinct GPUs (a multi?year, multi?billion-dollar commitment and potential equity stake), a major catalyst for confidence in Meta’s AI infrastructure strategy. AMD clinches second mega chip supply deal, this time with Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Short interest fell meaningfully in February (down ~16.5%), reducing one source of downward pressure and making squeezes less likely to amplify sell-offs in the near term.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street reaction is mixed but constructive — some banks (e.g., BofA) see long?term earnings upside from the AMD tie?up despite higher capex, while others remain cautious about elevated investment intensity. Meta-AMD AI deal boosts scale but extends high capex cycle, analysts say
• Neutral Sentiment: Policy and operational items could affect costs or timelines — the White House plans talks with Big Tech on data?center power costs (potentially easing power concerns), and Meta will appear at the Morgan Stanley TMT conference (CFO Susan Li on March 4). White House to host Big Tech in pledge to rein in power costs Meta to Participate in the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference
• Neutral Sentiment: Product/monetization runway: reports that Meta is preparing a stablecoin/payments push in H2 2026 are a longer?term monetization positive but carry regulatory and execution risk. Meta Hopes to Launch Stablecoin Payments Project This Year
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — CFO Susan Li disclosed a large sale (18,789 shares, ~21% reduction at the time) and COO Javier Olivan sold shares recently; such high?value insider sales can prompt investor concern about executive conviction even if they are often for diversification or taxes. SEC filing: Susan J. Li sale SEC filing: Javier Olivan sale
• Negative Sentiment: High?profile investor exit — reports that billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller eliminated his fund’s Meta position may weigh on sentiment and be interpreted as a vote of caution by some institutional players. Billionaire Investor Stanley Druckenmiller Eliminated His Fund’s Position in Meta Platforms
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/reputational risk from ongoing litigation — court filings about encryption and child?safety concerns could prompt regulatory scrutiny and headline risk. Meta executive warned Facebook Messenger encryption plan was ‘so irresponsible’

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $900.00 price objective (up from $870.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Three research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $844.44.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total value of $374,680.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,983,882. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total transaction of $1,574,473.97. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,746,335.16. This trade represents a 16.89% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 48,135 shares of company stock worth $31,063,415 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $653.69 on Thursday. 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 cap of $1.65 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.82, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $656.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $687.00.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The company had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $8.02 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend 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.