Sandbox Financial Partners LLC Boosts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Sandbox Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,301 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 999 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.3% of Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer lowered Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Arete Research set a $718.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Zacks Research cut Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $915.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities 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 MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $820.22.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total value of $374,680.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,167 shares in the company, valued at $3,983,882. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $658.14, for a total value of $340,258.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,029,308. The trade was a 4.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 42,074 shares of company stock valued at $26,269,739 in the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s strategic AI push: Market reaction is mildly positive to Meta’s recent ~+$2B acquisition of AI agent startup Manus — investors see it as a direct revenue/advertising adjutant (agentic automation for businesses) that could accelerate AI-driven monetization. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street and pundits still constructive: Rosenblatt and other brokers have reiterated buy ratings and some commentators (e.g., Jim Cramer) are bullish on buying META, supporting demand for shares on conviction that AI investments can pay off long term. Read More. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Strong product monetization trend: reports on Instagram Reels scaling into a multibillion-dollar ad product underpin medium-term revenue growth, but this is already priced in and won’t offset near-term capex concerns by itself. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and legal risk: the U.S. Virgin Islands filed suit alleging Meta profited from scam ads and failed to protect children — a headline that raises litigation, reputational and potential regulatory enforcement risk. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Investigation alleges deceptive conduct: a Reuters-based investigation (covered here) says Meta created a “playbook” to fend off pressure and may have tried to mislead regulators about fake/ad scam handling — this amplifies regulatory scrutiny and could pressure near-term sentiment. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling / governance headlines: recent small-block sales by COO Javier Oliván and CLO Jennifer Newstead have produced negative headlines (but are small relative to overall insider holdings). Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical/regulatory scrutiny on acquisition: Manus’ founders’ China ties have drawn attention in Washington — potential extra review or integration delays increase execution risk for the AI deal. Read More.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $660.09 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The business has a fifty day moving average of $649.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $705.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.03 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.28%.

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.