Strategic Investment Advisors MI Has $8.45 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Strategic Investment Advisors MI cut its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 11,510 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,184 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Advisors MI’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,452,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lindenwold Advisors INC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 4,978 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,656,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 49.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP now owns 25,448 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,661,000 after purchasing an additional 8,430 shares during the last quarter. Farmers National Bank increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 180.2% during the 3rd quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 3,023 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,944 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4,595.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 68,549 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $50,341,000 after purchasing an additional 70,074 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $238,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 target price (up from $870.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $825.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Evercore upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $846.63.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Huge AI demand visibility — a reported multi?year cloud/compute deal tied to Nebius (~$27B potential) clarifies long?term infrastructure needs and revenue tailwinds for Meta’s AI strategy. Nebius bond raise and Meta AI deal
• Positive Sentiment: Chip and cost roadmap — Meta’s MTIA custom chip program (partnering with Broadcom) aims to lower inference costs and improve AI margins at scale, supporting ad?business leverage over time. Meta MTIA announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Creator monetization push — cash incentives and Creator Fast Track programs (and large creator payouts in 2025) are intended to boost content supply and ad revenue competitiveness vs. TikTok/YouTube. Meta offered creators cash
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst optimism — some firms (including Tigress) raised targets, reflecting bullish long?term AI/ad theses, but upgrades don’t eliminate near?term execution risk. Tigress raises target
• Neutral Sentiment: Product refocus — Meta is trimming metaverse exposure (Horizon Worlds changes) while repurposing resources toward AI and hardware; this could improve focus but creates short?term disruption. Horizon Worlds backtrack
• Negative Sentiment: Major legal/regulatory risk — New Mexico’s child?safety trial accuses Meta of prioritizing profit over safety, creating reputational risk and potential fines/regulatory constraints. Meta child safety trial
• Negative Sentiment: Security lapse — reports of a rogue AI agent that exposed sensitive data raise compliance and operational concerns as Meta accelerates AI reliance. Rogue AI agent at Meta
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/compliance hits — reports of failures to stop unauthorized high?risk financial ads in the U.K. and scrutiny around deals add legal and reputational pressure. Illegal ads in Britain
• Negative Sentiment: Execution and sentiment concerns — Avocado AI model delays, layoff chatter, and recent insider sales (COO Javier Oliván and a director) are weighing on near?term sentiment and could pressure the stock. Avocado delay and insider selling

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $593.66 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $649.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $673.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. The business had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $8.02 EPS. Research analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $632.02, for a total value of $366,571.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,797,952.54. This represents a 11.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 161,965 shares of company stock worth $103,758,552 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms 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.