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

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. lowered its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 25.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,400 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,200 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 2.3% of Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,700,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the 2nd quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Piper Sandler upped 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. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up from $770.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $844.44.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.3%

META stock opened at $648.18 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $655.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $685.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.58, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $8.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 55,702 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.61, for a total value of $35,293,344.22. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,354,781.46. This represents a 80.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.18, for a total value of $370,724.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,007 shares in the company, valued at $3,200,374.26. This trade represents a 10.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 103,837 shares of company stock valued at $66,356,760 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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.

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.