Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Level Four Advisory Services LLC

Level Four Advisory Services LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 41,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,899 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.0% of Level Four Advisory Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Level Four Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $30,610,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Goldstone Financial Group LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 44.4% during the 3rd quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,756,000 after purchasing an additional 1,153 shares in the last quarter. CW Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 27.8% in the 2nd quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 176,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $130,467,000 after purchasing an additional 38,432 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $38,373,000 after purchasing an additional 13,311 shares during the last quarter. Cherokee Insurance Co acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,321,000. Finally, Becker Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the third quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $25,741,000 after buying an additional 1,657 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.4%

META stock opened at $644.86 on Monday. 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 company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.44, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $654.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $680.69. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $8.02 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. 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 currently 8.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $850.00 target price (up from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $860.00 price target (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $844.44.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Closed multiyear AI/content and chip-supply deals that should improve model training quality and reduce sourcing risk — supports AI product road map and longer-term ad/engagement upside. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Signed paid content-licensing arrangements (reported coverage highlights a News Corp deal) and created a new applied-AI engineering organization to speed model development — both point to faster commercialization of AI features that can lift ad yields. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Prominent investors and some brokers continue to list META as a buy or top idea (e.g., inclusion on Bill Ackman-related lists and select upgrades), supporting demand from long-term investors. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Company presented at investor conferences and several sell?side reports reiterated valuation/scale arguments — useful for analyst color but not an immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Wall Street downgrades and cut price targets citing concerns that Meta is “lagging on AI” — raises short-term growth and competition worries and likely contributed to intraday selling pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales disclosed: CFO Susan Li sold roughly $36.5M and COO Javier Olivan also executed significant sales — while often planned (tax/vesting), these filers increase headline risk and can create short-term supply. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and competition pressure in Europe and Indonesia — Meta agreed to allow rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp in Europe (for a fee) to head off EU action, and Indonesia issued warnings over disinformation and algorithm transparency, adding compliance and revenue uncertainty in key markets. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: 13F filings show several high?profile managers trimmed or exited META in Q4 — signals profit?taking and reduced conviction from some large investors. Read More.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $637.21, for a total transaction of $590,056.46. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 16,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,267,364.73. The trade was a 5.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the business’s 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 160,410 shares of company stock worth $102,809,055. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.