Canal Capital Management LLC Buys 4,358 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Canal Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 399.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,449 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,358 shares during the quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,597,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Goldstone Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 44.4% in the 3rd quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,756,000 after purchasing an additional 1,153 shares in the last quarter. CW Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 27.8% during the 2nd quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 176,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $130,467,000 after buying an additional 38,432 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $38,373,000 after buying an additional 13,311 shares in the last quarter. Cherokee Insurance Co purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $3,321,000. Finally, Becker Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.0% in the third quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $25,741,000 after buying an additional 1,657 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Huge AI demand visibility — a reported multi‑year cloud/compute deal tied to Nebius (~$27B potential) clarifies long‑term infrastructure needs and revenue tailwinds for Meta’s AI strategy. Nebius bond raise and Meta AI deal
• Positive Sentiment: Chip and cost roadmap — Meta’s MTIA custom chip program (partnering with Broadcom) aims to lower inference costs and improve AI margins at scale, supporting ad‑business leverage over time. Meta MTIA announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Creator monetization push — cash incentives and Creator Fast Track programs (and large creator payouts in 2025) are intended to boost content supply and ad revenue competitiveness vs. TikTok/YouTube. Meta offered creators cash
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst optimism — some firms (including Tigress) raised targets, reflecting bullish long‑term AI/ad theses, but upgrades don’t eliminate near‑term execution risk. Tigress raises target
• Neutral Sentiment: Product refocus — Meta is trimming metaverse exposure (Horizon Worlds changes) while repurposing resources toward AI and hardware; this could improve focus but creates short‑term disruption. Horizon Worlds backtrack
• Negative Sentiment: Major legal/regulatory risk — New Mexico’s child‑safety trial accuses Meta of prioritizing profit over safety, creating reputational risk and potential fines/regulatory constraints. Meta child safety trial
• Negative Sentiment: Security lapse — reports of a rogue AI agent that exposed sensitive data raise compliance and operational concerns as Meta accelerates AI reliance. Rogue AI agent at Meta
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/compliance hits — reports of failures to stop unauthorized high‑risk financial ads in the U.K. and scrutiny around deals add legal and reputational pressure. Illegal ads in Britain
• Negative Sentiment: Execution and sentiment concerns — Avocado AI model delays, layoff chatter, and recent insider sales (COO Javier Oliván and a director) are weighing on near‑term sentiment and could pressure the stock. Avocado delay and insider selling

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.1%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $593.66 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $649.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $672.87. The company has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week 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 issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $8.02 EPS. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Citizens Jmp restated an “outperform” rating and set a $900.00 price target (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $910.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $846.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares in the company, valued at $1,793,352.84. The trade was a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,746,335.16. The trade was a 16.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 161,965 shares of company stock valued at $103,758,552 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

About Meta Platforms

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.