Peoples Bank KS Lowers Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Peoples Bank KS decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 45.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,538 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,276 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.1% of Peoples Bank KS’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Peoples Bank KS’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,129,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the second 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 in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $643.23, for a total value of $333,836.37. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 29,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,101,358.08. This trade represents a 1.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total value of $333,982.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 13,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,549,164. This represents a 3.76% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 42,074 shares of company stock worth $26,478,698. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Erste Group Bank lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 price objective (up previously from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $818.59.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is reported to be developing new multimodal AI — an image/video model codenamed “Mango” and a text model called “Avocado” targeted for H1‑2026, which could accelerate product differentiation and ad/engagement upgrades. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: U.S. federal action on AI (an executive order to create a national AI framework) is being viewed as a net positive for Big Tech — it could reduce a patchwork of state rules and lower compliance complexity for large platforms like Meta. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wedbush trimmed its price target from $920 to $880 but kept an “outperform” rating — the cut tempers upside expectations but the firm still implies substantial upside vs. current levels. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Austrias Supreme Court ruled Meta’s personalized ad model unlawful and ordered sweeping user‑data access changes across the EU — this is a binding precedent that raises regulatory, compliance and revenue risk in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Several insiders (including General Counsel Jennifer Newstead and COO Javier Olivan) have sold blocks of shares in recent weeks — repeated insider sales can be perceived negatively by the market even if amounts are small relative to overall holdings. Read More. Read More.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of META opened at $658.77 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.10, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $659.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $707.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.03 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

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.