Stevens Capital Partners Raises Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Stevens Capital Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 330.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,077 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,129 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 0.9% of Stevens Capital Partners’ portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Stevens Capital Partners’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,994,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,212,506,000 after buying an additional 8,405,558 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after buying an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $142,149,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,568 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and set a $870.00 price objective (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $900.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $822.89.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.1%

META opened at $653.06 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $1.65 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.85, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.29. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $641.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $703.52.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $6.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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%.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Secured multi‑gigawatt nuclear power deals (Vistra, TerraPower, Oklo) to supply Meta’s Prometheus AI data center — long‑dated agreements help lock in reliable, low‑carbon capacity for heavy AI compute and reduce power‑supply risk for future growth. Meta strikes nuclear power agreements with three companies
• Positive Sentiment: Nuclear deals receive broad coverage (TechCrunch, Bloomberg) and have already lifted shares of partners (Oklo, Vistra) — a signal markets view the agreements as material to Meta’s AI infrastructure buildout and future margins. Meta signs deals with three nuclear companies for 6+ GW
• Positive Sentiment: Strong demand signals for Meta’s Ray‑Ban Display AI glasses — company paused international rollout because U.S. demand outstripped limited inventory, which supports upside for Reality Labs if Meta can scale production. Meta’s New AI Glasses See “Unprecedented Demand”
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst activity mixed but constructive: some price targets trimmed (Guggenheim lowered its target) yet many firms retain Buy/Outperform views given AI growth and healthy fundamentals — watch updates for guidance impact. Guggenheim price target note
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk in China — Beijing announced a probe/assessment of Meta’s ~$2B Manus acquisition to check export/security compliance; this creates near‑term transaction uncertainty and geopolitical headline risk. China to assess/investigate Manus deal
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: COO Javier Oliván disclosed small, regular share sales — routine but sometimes interpreted by market participants as a mild near‑term negative signal. SEC filing: Javier Oliván sale

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $650.41, for a total value of $336,261.97. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 11,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,598,740.03. The trade was a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,983,882. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 41,038 shares of company stock valued at $25,500,705 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.