Avity Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Avity Investment Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 87,856 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,372 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 4.5% of Avity Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Avity Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $64,520,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $142,149,566,000 after buying an additional 1,532,568 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in 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. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $37,902,948,000 after acquiring an additional 682,768 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,247,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,823,375,000 after acquiring an additional 278,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $23,155,393,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $634.94, for a total value of $587,954.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,187 shares in the company, valued at $9,642,833.78. The trade was a 5.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 159,830 shares of company stock worth $102,409,190. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $800.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Wedbush upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $844.44.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $622.66 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50 day moving average is $651.86 and its 200 day moving average is $675.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 payout ratio is presently 8.94%.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Global user engagement is rising — Meta reported ~17% higher total time spent year‑over‑year across its platforms, which supports ad monetization and long‑term revenue growth. InsiderMonkey: User Engagement
• Positive Sentiment: Meta unveiled four MTIA custom AI chips and explicitly confirmed the Broadcom (AVGO) partnership — a move that helps scale inference workloads efficiently and could improve unit economics as GenAI inference rolls out. Meta AI blog: MTIA chips
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and buy‑the‑dip voices remain mixed but constructive — several pieces argue fundamentals (mid‑20% revenue growth last year, high margins) justify buying on weakness; JPMorgan reiterated an Overweight with a high target. Fool: Buy on pullback Finbold: JPMorgan target
• Neutral Sentiment: Smaller partner news (MONAT integration) expands social‑commerce use cases but is unlikely to move Meta’s top‑line materially in the near term. GlobeNewswire: MONAT integration
• Negative Sentiment: Huge AI infrastructure commitments — public reports show Meta has signed supply agreements (up to ~$27B with Nebius and large third‑party commitments) and is planning very large AI‑related CapEx — raising near‑term cash and margin pressure perceptions. CNBC: $27B Nebius deal
• Negative Sentiment: Layoff reports and related uncertainty — multiple outlets cite that Meta is considering cuts up to ~20% of staff to offset AI costs; that spurs short‑term volatility even if intended to improve long‑term efficiency. Reuters: Layoff report CNET: Workforce/AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and execution risks — reports of delays in Meta’s latest AI model and heightened scrutiny (e.g., China probing the Manus acquisition) increase downside risk and geopolitical/regulatory uncertainty. NYTimes: China scrutiny Fool: AI model delay

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.