Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Acquired by Independent Advisor Alliance

Independent Advisor Alliance raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 97,689 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,502 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.6% of Independent Advisor Alliance’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $64,484,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Gray Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Gray Private Wealth LLC now owns 825 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $545,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. West Tower Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $330,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 92,782 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $61,245,000 after acquiring an additional 2,232 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 25.2% during the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 845 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $558,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 93,212 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $61,528,000 after acquiring an additional 16,197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on META shares. Mizuho reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $840.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total value of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 152,728 shares of company stock worth $96,925,217. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $610.26 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The stock has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $617.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $637.00.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.43 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched a standalone “Forum” app for Facebook Groups, signaling a new product push that could deepen user engagement and add pressure to competitors like Reddit. Meta quietly launches a new Reddit-like app called Forum
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is cutting jobs and shifting resources toward AI, which investors may view as an efficiency move that supports long-term profit margins and keeps the company focused on its biggest growth area. Meta Cuts 8,000 Jobs, Boosts AI Team: What This Means for Employees
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also settled a school-district lawsuit over alleged social media addiction harms, removing one legal overhang, though the broader regulatory and litigation risk around its platforms remains. Texas sues Meta, WhatsApp over encryption privacy claims
• Neutral Sentiment: Other headlines around Meta’s dual-class control structure, insider share sales, and broader AI spending debate are adding to the narrative, but they are less likely to drive the stock on their own than the new app launch and workforce reshaping.
• Negative Sentiment: The Texas attorney general’s lawsuit against Meta and WhatsApp over encryption and privacy claims adds another legal risk for investors to monitor. Google, Meta, TikTok face EU consumer complaints about handling of financial scams
• Negative Sentiment: Competition concerns are also in focus after Meta’s Forum app appeared to pressure Reddit shares, reinforcing worries that Meta’s scale lets it copy or crowd out rival social platforms.

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.