Fluent Financial LLC Makes New $10.66 Million Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Fluent Financial LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 16,154 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,663,000. Meta Platforms makes up about 4.1% of Fluent Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,247,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,823,375,000 after purchasing an additional 278,180 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $23,155,393,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,153,754 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,597,374,000 after purchasing an additional 142,229 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,489,621 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,694,644,000 after purchasing an additional 262,550 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley kept an “Overweight” stance and named META a top pick even as it trimmed its price target to $775 — that endorsement (and the analyst framing of Meta as a buy-the-dip) is helping sentiment among institutional investors. Morgan Stanley Trims PT on Meta Platforms (META) to $775 Amid Softer Advertising Backdrop
• Positive Sentiment: Infrastructure tie-up: Meta and Corning broke ground on a major optical-cable expansion to support Meta’s AI data‑center buildout — a signal that Meta’s AI capex is progressing and that supply-chain partnerships are being secured. Corning and Meta Celebrate Start of Construction on Cable Manufacturing Expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Product & monetization moves: Meta launched new Ray‑Ban prescription smart glasses and is testing Instagram Plus subscriptions, while rolling out AI-driven engagement features — all moves that can expand monetization levers beyond core ads over time. Meta unveils two new Ray-Ban prescription smart glasses
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta reorganized to form an elite AI lab for recommendations (headed by a former TikTok exec) — potentially meaningful for engagement/AI monetization but benefits are medium‑ to long‑term and execution dependent. Meta is assembling an elite new AI lab for its recommendations division
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-term price action is also being driven by a risk‑on rotation back into growth names; some of today’s bounce looks like sector flow rather than company‑specific news. What’s Behind The Bounce In Meta Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk remains the biggest overhang — recent court losses (including cases that found harm to teens) create a bellwether precedent, raise the chance of many follow‑on suits and could materially increase liability or legal costs if rulings are upheld. Meta plans to appeal, but the uncertainty is weighing on multiples. Meta was finally held accountable for harming teens. Now what?
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and operational headwinds: Indonesia has summoned Meta over child‑safety compliance, and the company disclosed another round of layoffs (particularly in VR/Reality Labs) — both raise near‑term execution and regulatory friction risk. Meta unveils two new Ray-Ban prescription smart glasses

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on META shares. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. KeyCorp reduced 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. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up from $770.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $900.00 target price (up from $870.00) 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 given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $845.54.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $579.23 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $640.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $662.64. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $8.02 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $632.02, for a total value of $366,571.60. Following the sale, the director owned 4,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,797,952.54. This trade represents a 11.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 161,448 shares of company stock worth $103,333,788 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.