Centaurus Financial Inc. Cuts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Centaurus Financial Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,590 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,646 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.1% of Centaurus Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $23,933,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 294.7% during the first quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $86,454,000 after acquiring an additional 112,000 shares in the last quarter. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $322,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $615.68 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $651.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $674.78. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.20, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.30. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $8.02 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current 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 dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $872.00 price objective (up from $830.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Arete Research reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Pivotal Research cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $930.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $846.63.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: MTIA chip roadmap & Broadcom partnership reaffirmed — Meta publicly detailed four MTIA inference chips and explicitly cited Broadcom as a partner, underlining a clearer path to scale AI inference (supports revenue/engagement from better personalization and GenAI features). Meta MTIA blog
• Positive Sentiment: Large AI infrastructure commitment — Meta’s massive capacity commitments (e.g., the reported $27B deal with Nebius) show the company is locking long-term AI compute capacity, supporting its AI roadmap even if it raises near-term capex. Nebius $27B deal
• Positive Sentiment: Monetization push for creators — Meta launched “Creator Fast Track” (guaranteed monthly payments) and highlighted nearly $3B paid to creators in 2025, which could boost content supply and ad revenue long term. Creator program
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail flagship on Fifth Avenue — Meta converted a Manhattan pop-up into a 10‑year flagship lease to showcase AI glasses and XR hardware; strategically visible but small relative to core business. Fifth Avenue lease
• Neutral Sentiment: Product pivots in VR — Meta set a June 15 deadline to separate Quest and Horizon Worlds (shutting down VR Horizon Worlds), a strategic pivot that reduces some metaverse exposure but may lower ongoing VR costs. Horizon Worlds shutdown
• Negative Sentiment: Rogue AI agent exposed sensitive data — A reported internal AI agent misconfiguration allowed access to company and user data by unauthorized employees, raising operational, security and potential regulatory risk. This kind of incident can trigger investigations and reputational damage. Rogue AI agent
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/compliance headlines — A Reuters review found Meta repeatedly failed to block illegal high‑risk financial ads in Britain despite commitments, increasing regulatory scrutiny and potential enforcement risk. Illegal ads in Britain
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — Multiple filings show large sales by COO Javier Olivan and a director, which investors often view as a negative signal even when sales have benign explanations. Olivan SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Product/timing risk and possible job cuts — Reports of a delayed Avocado AI rollout and rumors of major layoffs raise near-term execution and cost concerns that can pressure sentiment and earnings visibility. Avocado delay

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total value of $1,574,473.97. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,108 shares in the company, valued at $7,746,335.16. This trade represents a 16.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total value of $5,106,100.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,352.84. The trade was a 74.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 161,965 shares of company stock valued at $103,758,552 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.