Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Geneos Wealth Management Inc.

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 23.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 17,771 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 5,485 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,050,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $650.41, for a total transaction of $336,261.97. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 11,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,598,740.03. This represents a 4.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total value of $341,860.11. Following the transaction, the insider owned 28,658 shares in the company, valued at $18,876,738.02. This trade represents a 1.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 40,519 shares of company stock valued at $25,133,331 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta named Dina Powell McCormick as president and vice chair, a senior hire expected to help execute its large AI and infrastructure agenda. This adds experienced deal‑making and political connections to management. Reuters: Dina Powell joins Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched “Meta Compute” and reiterated plans to build gigawatt‑scale AI compute capacity — a strategic move to control AI infrastructure and product differentiation long term. Reuters: Meta Compute
• Positive Sentiment: Meta agreed to prepay/partner on large nuclear and energy projects (e.g., Oklo/Vistra) to secure baseload power for AI data centers — this reduces long‑term operating risk from grid constraints and could create a durable competitive moat. MarketBeat: Meta and Oklo energy deal
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst coverage remains constructive: Wells Fargo kept an overweight stance while slightly tweaking its price target, signaling continued analyst confidence in the multi‑year story. Benzinga: Wells Fargo note
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta rolled out a new performance program (“Checkpoint”) to reward top performers—could improve productivity but is mainly an HR/retention change. BI: Checkpoint program
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta adjusted WhatsApp policy scope in some markets (e.g., excluding Italy from a rival‑chatbot ban) — an operational compliance tweak that reduces friction in that market. Reuters: Italy exclusion
• Negative Sentiment: Meta plans cuts of roughly 10–15% of Reality Labs staff and other Reality Labs layoffs were reported — signals that metaverse businesses remain a drag and that near‑term restructuring / impairment risk remains. Reuters: Reality Labs cuts
• Negative Sentiment: Brazil’s antitrust authority opened an investigation and suspended new WhatsApp Business terms — adding regulatory/legal risk and potential product friction in a large market. Reuters: Brazil probe
• Negative Sentiment: Meta removed ~550k accounts in Australia to comply with an under‑16 ban and publicly urged policy rethink — regulatory actions and user‑coverage limits create near‑term user growth and PR headwinds. Yahoo: Australia under‑16 ban

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.7%

META stock opened at $641.97 on Tuesday. 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 50 day simple moving average of $641.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $702.93. The company has a market capitalization of $1.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.36, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.29. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $870.00 target price (down previously from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $802.00 to $795.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $825.00 target price (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $822.73.

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.