Denali Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Denali Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 26.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 23,843 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 8,752 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.0% of Denali Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Denali Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $17,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,212,506,000 after acquiring an additional 8,405,558 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $64,158,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 valued at $142,149,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,568 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 103.5% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,998,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,475,166,000 after acquiring an additional 1,016,667 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on META shares. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $835.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Zacks Research cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Benchmark cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $844.29.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Secured multiyear GPU/CPU and codesign deal with NVIDIA that locks supply and a roadmap (Rubin/Vera, confidential computing) — this makes Meta’s AI rollout and large‑scale personalization (e.g., WhatsApp agents) more credible and is a primary driver of investor buying. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Latest results and marketing metrics show AI is improving ad efficiency — Q4 revenue and EPS beat and stronger ad metrics support the thesis that AI can monetize engagement and help justify infrastructure spend. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional/activist positioning (including Bill Ackman / Pershing Square and other funds adding stakes) is providing conviction behind the rally and reduces short‑term supply risk. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Horizon Worlds is being repositioned to mobile and explicitly decoupled from Quest VR — this reduces near‑term execution risk for Reality Labs but also signals less near‑term upside if VR hardware adoption stalls. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Product/ecosystem updates (revived smartwatch plans; third‑party “Made for Meta” integrations like Virtuix) expand the device roadmap but are unlikely to move core ad revenue near term. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Very large 2026 CapEx guidance (~$115–$135B) raises real margin and ROIC risk — if AI monetization lags, the spending could compress returns and leave Meta exposed to depreciating infrastructure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Notable insider selling (COO, CFO and at least one director disclosed multi‑trade sales) can add short‑term supply and raises questions about timing of personal liquidity events. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing legal and child‑safety scrutiny (Zuckerberg testimony, PTA distancing, and public reporting on content/encryption tradeoffs) is an overhang that could affect user engagement, regulatory costs or ad targeting over time. Read More.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,418 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total value of $4,106,043.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 73,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,924,570.42. This trade represents a 8.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total transaction of $5,106,100.36. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,841 shares in the company, valued at $1,793,352.84. This represents a 74.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,310 shares of company stock worth $18,159,577. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7%

META opened at $655.66 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $656.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $689.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.90, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $8.02 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.