Valley National Advisers Inc. Has $5.99 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Valley National Advisers Inc. decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,163 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 982 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 0.9% of Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,993,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Enzi Wealth lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the third quarter. Enzi Wealth now owns 1,103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $785,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 71,664 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $52,629,000 after buying an additional 2,048 shares in the last quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 10,227 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,510,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Client 1ST Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.7% in the third quarter. Client 1ST Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,945 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,428,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sandbox Financial Partners LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 18.8% in the third quarter. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC now owns 6,301 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,627,000 after acquiring an additional 999 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $374,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,983,882. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $658.14, for a total transaction of $340,258.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,029,308. This represents a 4.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 42,074 shares of company stock valued at $26,269,739. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $660.09 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.16, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $649.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $705.38.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.03 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Trending Headlines about 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $825.00 target price (down previously from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four 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 MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $820.22.

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.