Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Acquired by Baxter Bros Inc.

Baxter Bros Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 38,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 794 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 3.3% of Baxter Bros Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Baxter Bros Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $28,338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Infusive Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.7% during the first quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,620 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,614,000 after purchasing an additional 2,285 shares in the last quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,011,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 55,431 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $43,790,000 after buying an additional 5,224 shares during the period. CW Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 38,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 11.0% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 210,526 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $155,387,000 after acquiring an additional 20,912 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total value of $374,680.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,983,882. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $661.11, for a total value of $341,793.87. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,407,335.87. This trade represents a 3.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 42,074 shares of company stock worth $26,359,548. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Stores Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta debuted its first augmented‑reality smart glasses and continues to present AR/AI hardware as a multi‑year growth runway that could meaningfully expand monetizable user engagement over time. Long‑term device roadmap commentary supports the AI/AR investment narrative. Billionaires Are Buying an AI Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains broadly positive: many analysts keep Buy/Outperform ratings and elevated price targets (median targets near the low‑to‑mid $800s), reinforcing demand as investors position for AI monetization and ad recovery. Analyst & Social Sentiment
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest data for December shows effectively zero days-to-cover in the published snapshot — likely a data anomaly rather than a meaningful shift in positioning; treat as noise until validated by exchanges. (No single authoritative article; internal data feed.)
• Negative Sentiment: Italy’s antitrust regulator ordered Meta to suspend WhatsApp contract terms that could block rival AI chatbots while it investigates abuse of dominance — this escalates EU scrutiny of Meta’s AI integration and could force product/policy changes or fines. Reuters: Italy watchdog
• Negative Sentiment: Policy tests limiting links in Facebook posts (paywalls/URL limits for non‑verified users) could hurt creators and small business marketers, risking engagement and ad demand if rolled out broadly. MSN: Link limit impact
• Negative Sentiment: Investor skepticism over Meta’s large AI capex persists — commentators and some analysts question whether the company’s ~$75B AI investment will deliver timely returns, which can pressure sentiment if near‑term margins or cash flow disappoint. YouTube: META’s $75B AI Bet
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling filings (COO Javier Oliván and other officers) have been highlighted by data services; amounts are small vs. total holdings but can be read negatively by short‑term traders. MarketBeat: Insider trades
• Negative Sentiment: Broker/forecast notes (e.g., a pessimistic Baird piece cited) add near‑term target downside narratives that can amplify volatility when paired with regulatory headlines. AmericanBankingNews: Baird forecast

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $825.00 target price (down previously from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $820.22.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.3%

NASDAQ META opened at $666.94 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $655.88 and a 200-day moving average of $706.48.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.28%.

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.