Franchise Capital Ltd Sells 8,350 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Franchise Capital Ltd lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 24,300 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 8,350 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 7.8% of Franchise Capital Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Franchise Capital Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $17,845,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the second 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 period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp grew 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 purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $915.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $785.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $925.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $818.57.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $608.35, for a total value of $314,516.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 10,649 shares in the company, valued at $6,478,319.15. This represents a 4.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.28, for a total value of $358,602.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,454,330.36. The trade was a 9.40% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 40,632 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,572 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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 Trading Up 1.7%

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. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.10, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $642.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $697.15.

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 return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.03 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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.