Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Buys 9,492 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 110,789 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,492 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.0% of Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $81,361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% during 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 buying an additional 8,405,558 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the second 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 last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the second 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 lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,016,667 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Sunday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total transaction of $1,574,473.97. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,746,335.16. This represents a 16.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $624.14, for a total transaction of $323,928.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,506,247.42. The trade was a 1.63% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,158 shares of company stock valued at $12,992,197. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Large multiyear chip deal with NVIDIA — Meta agreed to buy millions of NVIDIA GPUs and adopt NVIDIA CPUs, networking and rack-scale designs, securing chip supply and lowering future latency/costs for its AI data centers; this is the primary driver of today’s upside. Nvidia to sell Meta millions of chips in multiyear deal
• Positive Sentiment: Deepened strategic alliance and codesign roadmap — coverage highlights a multigenerational NVIDIA–Meta pact (Rubin/Vera architectures, confidential computing) that supports Meta’s Personal Superintelligence vision and signals durable hardware demand. NVIDIA and Meta Deepen Their AI Alliance—and the Spending Numbers Are Enormous
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional buying and bullish hedge-fund activity — high-profile investors (reports about Bill Ackman and David Tepper) have increased exposure to Meta on its AI growth thesis, adding conviction behind the rally. Billionaire Bill Ackman Is Betting Big on AI David Tepper goes big on Micron, Meta and Alphabet
• Neutral Sentiment: Hardware/product roadmap noise — reports that Meta may debut a smartwatch in 2026 and ongoing XR ecosystem moves (third‑party “Made for Meta” partners) suggest product expansion but limited near-term revenue impact. Meta reboots smartwatch plan, aims debut in 2026
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling by senior execs — recent filings show substantial share sales by COO Javier Olivan and CFO Susan Li, which can signal portfolio liquidity-taking and add short-term selling pressure. Olivan SEC filing Li SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and legal overhangs — CEO Mark Zuckerberg is testifying in a high‑profile youth‑addiction trial, Spain is probing AI-generated content on social platforms, and India is discussing age-based curbs; these risks could pressure user growth, ad targeting or incur fines. Zuckerberg faces questioning at youth addiction trial Spain to probe Meta, TikTok, X India discussing age-based restrictions
• Negative Sentiment: Massive CapEx and margin risk — coverage highlights Meta’s elevated 2026 capex plans (reported guidance as high as ~$115–$135B in some writeups), which fuels concern about near‑term margin pressure and capital intensity if AI monetization lags. Marketbeat: NVIDIA and Meta Deepen Their AI Alliance

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $643.22 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $656.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $691.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The company had revenue of $59.89 billion during 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 revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on META shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Zacks Research cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $860.00 price objective (up previously from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $844.29.

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.