BCS Wealth Management grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 128.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,954 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,099 shares during the period. BCS Wealth Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Goldstone Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 44.4% in the third quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,756,000 after buying an additional 1,153 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 34.2% in the third 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 during the period. Becker Capital Management Inc. lifted 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 period. Diversified Trust Co. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,487,000 after buying an additional 3,336 shares during the period. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 16.2% in the third quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 6,933 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,091,000 after buying an additional 968 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street support: Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” and $850 price target and other firms (Deutsche Bank, Citizens) remain constructive, highlighting AI-driven ad upside and margin leverage. Guggenheim Reaffirms Buy Rating, $850 PT
• Positive Sentiment: Deutsche Bank and others emphasize AI investments could strengthen Meta’s core advertising product and lift monetization, supporting bullish price targets. This Is the Impact of AI on Meta Platforms’ Core Advertising Business
• Positive Sentiment: Product and engagement catalysts — Threads added Live Chats and Meta Quest gained DirecTV streaming, which could help user engagement and new content monetization paths. Live Chats Are Now on Threads You Can Now Stream DirecTV on Your Meta Quest Headset
• Neutral Sentiment: Account and UX improvements: Meta is revamping its cross-app Meta Account system to streamline logins and device management — a product-level improvement with unclear near-term revenue impact. Meta Is Revamping Its Cross-App Management System
• Neutral Sentiment: Safety/parent tools: Meta added a feature letting parents see topics teens ask Meta AI about; reputationally positive but unlikely to move near-term revenue. Parents Can Now See What Their Kids Are Asking Meta AI About
• Negative Sentiment: Large workforce reduction: Meta will cut ~8,000 roles (10% of staff) and freeze hiring for ~6,000 open positions to “run more efficiently” and offset AI capex — the scale of the move signals heavy near-term restructuring and underscores how costly Meta’s AI buildout remains. Meta Prepares 8,000 Layoffs to Offset AI Infrastructure Investments
• Negative Sentiment: Employee-tracking controversy: Reports that Meta is logging employee keystrokes, clicks and mouse activity to train AI raise privacy/ethical concerns and potential regulatory scrutiny. Meta Is Tracking Employee Usage on Google, LinkedIn, Wikipedia
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and ESG pressures: New shareholder proposals, recent court rulings around teen addiction liability and a consumer suit over ad-related scams increase potential legal costs and reputational risk. Meta Verdict Poised to Shift Platform Liability Consumer Watchdog Group Files Suit
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: COO Javier Olivan disclosed multi-hundred-thousand-dollar share sales under a 10b5-1 plan, a data point some investors watch as a mild negative signal. SEC Filing: Javier Olivan Share Sales

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total transaction of $1,748,612.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 166,117 shares of company stock valued at $106,367,778. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.3%

NASDAQ:META opened at $659.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. The company has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.31. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $517.50 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $627.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $650.33.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $8.02 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on META. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $900.00 price objective (up from $870.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $856.00 to $765.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $837.09.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on META

About Meta Platforms

(Free Report)

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.

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