Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stock Position Lowered by Homestead Advisers Corp

Homestead Advisers Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 181,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,300 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 3.2% of Homestead Advisers Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Homestead Advisers Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $133,290,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% in the second 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 purchasing an additional 8,405,558 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during 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 buying an additional 1,532,568 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 103.5% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,998,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,475,166,000 after buying an additional 1,016,667 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: High‑profile institutional support: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square has taken a multi‑billion dollar stake, signaling confidence in Meta’s AI pivot and likely attracting other institutional interest. Ackman stake
• Positive Sentiment: Strong fundamentals and analyst upside: Q4 earnings beat and bullish analyst notes (multiple price‑target raises and buy reiterations) support a constructive medium‑term view. Seeking Alpha bullish note
• Positive Sentiment: Hardware and AI investments showing early traction: Ray‑Ban AI glasses sales growth and Reality Labs repositioning give optionality beyond ads. Ray‑Ban sales
• Neutral Sentiment: Dividend declared: Meta announced a $0.525 quarterly dividend (small yield) — positive for income investors but modest versus total return expectations. Dividend PR
• Neutral Sentiment: Large capex for AI: Meta broke ground on a ~$10B data‑center campus to boost AI compute — strengthens long‑term ad/AI moat but raises near‑term capex. Data center Reuters
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider/ownership moves mixed: CEO/COO small routine sales and some funds trimming while others add — notable but not a clear directional signal alone. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Privacy and reputational risk from facial‑recognition plans for Ray‑Ban AI glasses: Reports that Meta plans a “Name Tag” feature have triggered renewed privacy concerns and could draw regulatory scrutiny or user backlash. NYT facial recognition
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/access hit: Russia moved to block WhatsApp for ~100M users, a material engagement loss in that market. WhatsApp block
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and litigation noise: Ongoing trials and witness testimony alleging platform harm raise litigation/ reputational risk that can pressure sentiment and potentially cost fines or operational changes. Trial coverage

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $307,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 34,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,487,699.60. The trade was a 1.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total transaction of $6,935,793.90. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,432,843.65. This represents a 82.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,530 shares of company stock worth $15,150,029. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $872.00 target price (up from $830.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $910.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Arete Research set a $718.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $825.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $885.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.50.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.5%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $639.77 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $657.63 and its 200-day moving average is $693.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. The company has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.22, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $8.02 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.94%.

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.