Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stake Lessened by Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH cut its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 920,636 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,261 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 3.2% of Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $607,702,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. CMH Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $4,543,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. now owns 1,771 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,152,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 11,129 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,346,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. West Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 202 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $133,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 6,274 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,141,000 after buying an additional 884 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $849.00 to $856.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Arete Research reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $835.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $910.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $850.00 price objective (up from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four investment 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $845.54.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $536.38 on Tuesday. 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 $642.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $664.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The firm’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.02 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 (DPR) is 8.94%.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley and other firms are calling Meta a tactical buying opportunity and reiterating Buy/top-pick views, arguing the pullback has created a discounted entry given Meta’s fundamentals and AI exposure. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies also highlights that regulatory scrutiny is a persistent theme but not necessarily a crippling near-term catalyst, framing current legal headlines as a potential buying opportunity for longer-term investors. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta has begun testing a paid Instagram subscription (“Instagram Plus”) in select markets — a potential new ARPU/revenue stream if expanded, but currently a limited pilot with uncertain near-term revenue impact. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is sharing learnings from its Meta Lab stores with wearables/retail partners — a strategic move to accelerate Reality Labs retail presence and partner adoption, but with gradual monetization potential. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s El Paso data‑center project has grown to a ~$10B, 1‑gigawatt complex — evidence of big infrastructure buildout to support AI workloads; bullish for long‑term capacity but highlights larger capex commitments. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Recent court losses and ongoing regulatory/legal scrutiny remain material headline risk — coverage warns these rulings could constrain AI research practices and raise liability exposure, increasing near‑term uncertainty. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to debate Meta’s heavy capex (large multi‑year AI/Reality Labs spending). Deeper analyses flag the risk of near‑term negative free cash flow and pressure on margins despite long‑term optionality. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley lowered its price target (from $825 to $775) even while keeping an overweight rating — a mixed signal that narrows upside expectations versus earlier forecasts. Article Title

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,352.84. This represents a 74.01% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 161,448 shares of company stock worth $103,333,788 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.