Narus Financial Partners LLC Lowers Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Narus Financial Partners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 45.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,887 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,577 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.5% of Narus Financial Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Narus Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. AIA Group Ltd increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 43.4% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 148,633 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $109,153,000 after purchasing an additional 44,997 shares during the last quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Lindenwold Advisors INC grew its stake 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 worth $3,656,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 49.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP now owns 25,448 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,661,000 after buying an additional 8,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 180.2% in the 3rd quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 3,023 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,220,000 after buying an additional 1,944 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Robert W. Baird raised 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. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Evercore upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $846.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, 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 value of $1,574,473.97. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,746,335.16. The trade was a 16.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total value of $5,106,100.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,352.84. The trade was a 74.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 161,965 shares of company stock worth $103,758,552 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $593.66 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.26, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s fifty day moving average is $649.23 and its 200 day moving average is $673.30. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $8.02 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

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 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.