4,079 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Purchased by Blalock Williams LLC

Blalock Williams LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 4,079 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,995,000. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.6% of Blalock Williams LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kennedy Investment Group grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the third quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 4,309 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,164,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC NY acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $320,000. Morey & Quinn Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Morey & Quinn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 607 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $446,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 60.7% in the third quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 31,937 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,454,000 after buying an additional 12,060 shares during the period. Finally, BCS Private Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 108.9% in the third quarter. BCS Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,809 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,328,000 after buying an additional 943 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $429,501.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 6,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,570,306. The trade was a 10.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total transaction of $4,190,037.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 88,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,857,980.20. This represents a 7.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 40,632 shares of company stock worth $25,055,572 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $658.76 on Friday. 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 market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.10, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.29. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $642.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $697.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced 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 company had revenue of $51.24 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.03 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $754.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. KeyCorp cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,117.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $818.57.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Threads ad rollout expands immediate ad-monetization optionality for a 400M+ MAU product, supporting near-term revenue upside. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors point to attractive valuation after the pullback (multiple firms reiterating buys and high price targets), encouraging value-oriented buying. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Operational/tech progress: Meta’s AI lab reportedly delivered its first in-house models, a signal that internal AI capability is advancing and could support future product monetization and efficiency gains. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Hardware/metaverse upside: TD Cowen raised its PT and Meta plans to ramp Meta Glasses production, which supports longer-term diversification of revenue streams. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta suspended teen access to its AI characters globally while it builds a teen-specific version — a precautionary move that reduces regulatory/PR risk but could slow feature engagement and short-term monetization from those users. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming earnings (Jan. 28) and especially 2026 CapEx guidance are the primary near-term catalysts — strong revenue/AI updates could lift shares, while higher-than-expected CapEx would likely pressure the stock. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider activity: COO Javier Oliván’s routine share sales continue to be disclosed; amounts are modest relative to his holdings and the company, so impact is limited. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk: UK regulator Ofcom opened an investigation into Meta’s responsiveness on WhatsApp data requests, increasing compliance uncertainty in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk: Meta is contesting evidence limits ahead of a New Mexico child-safety trial — unfavorable rulings or negative publicity could weigh on sentiment. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst pressure: Some firms have trimmed price targets (Stifel cut its PT; UBS trimmed earlier), reflecting sensitivity to guidance and spending — these moves can cap near-term upside if guidance disappoints. Read More.

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.