Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Position Reduced by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,042,469 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 109,948 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 0.9% of Victory Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,499,948,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $142,149,566,000 after buying an additional 1,532,568 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $37,902,948,000 after acquiring an additional 682,768 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $23,155,393,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,489,621 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,694,644,000 after purchasing an additional 262,550 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $785.00 to $820.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $872.00 price objective (up from $830.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $844.44.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square materially added META, making it ~11.4% of the fund — a high-profile institutional endorsement that can attract other funds and provide buying pressure. Bill Ackman’s Eyes Meta Platforms
• Positive Sentiment: AMD announced a multi?year, gigawatt?scale AI infrastructure partnership with Meta valued at over $100B, signaling Meta’s heavy, near?term capex and commitment to build out AI data centers — positive for long?term moats and AI roadmap execution. AMD Meta AI Deal Puts Valuation Gap
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple outlets report billionaires and hedge funds accumulating META, reflecting conviction that Meta is underpriced relative to its AI and ad-recovery prospects — this flows into demand and sentiment. Billionaires Are Loading Up
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage highlights Meta’s cheapness vs. the S&P and its AI ambitions (articles exploring $800 targets and comparative valuation). These narratives support longer?term upside but are not immediate catalysts. Nvidia and Meta Platforms Are Now Cheaper
• Neutral Sentiment: Sheryl Sandberg joining the board of an AI data?center company (Nscale) and large fundraising in the sector indicate expanding data?center capacity and a growing ecosystem that indirectly benefits Meta’s AI ambitions. Impact is positive but indirect. The Former Coal Miner in the Middle of the A.I. Data Center Boom
• Negative Sentiment: Surging oil and energy prices are cited as a risk, raising operating and data?center cooling costs; macro energy cost pressure could weigh on margins and act as a near?term headwind. Surging Oil Prices Threaten NVIDIA, Amazon, and Meta

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $644.86 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. 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 company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $654.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $680.69.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $8.02 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued 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 currently 8.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 12,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,746,335.16. The trade was a 16.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 160,410 shares of company stock worth $102,809,055. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.