SHEPHERD WEALTH MANAGEMENT Ltd LIABILITY Co bought a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 8,235 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,108,000. Meta Platforms comprises 4.4% of SHEPHERD WEALTH MANAGEMENT Ltd LIABILITY Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Goldstone Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 44.4% during the third quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,756,000 after acquiring an additional 1,153 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 34.2% during the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $38,373,000 after acquiring an additional 13,311 shares during the last quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the third quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $25,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,657 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,487,000 after acquiring an additional 3,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 16.2% during the third quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 6,933 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,091,000 after acquiring an additional 968 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Muse Spark launch strengthens Meta’s AI narrative — investors see the new LLM as evidence Meta can compete with other big‑model providers and begin monetizing AI via commerce, APIs and ad tools; early analyst support and bullish writeups helped lift shares. Meta’s AI Outlook Brightens With Muse Spark Release
• Positive Sentiment: Expanded $21B CoreWeave deal gives Meta committed AI compute capacity through 2032 — reduces operational risk of running large models, signals scale and continuity for AI roadmaps (though it implies heavy future spending). CoreWeave signs $21 billion AI cloud deal with Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support is improving — CFRA upgraded Meta to Strong Buy and some firms remain constructive on share recovery tied to AI gains, helping sentiment. CFRA Just Upgraded Meta to Strong Buy. The AI Turnaround Story Is Getting Hard to Argue With
• Neutral Sentiment: Street price targets and ratings are mixed — some firms trimmed targets while keeping outperform/buy ratings, reflecting confidence in long‑term AI upside but concern over valuation and spend. (See recent Wolfe/KeyCorp/Rosenblatt notes.)
• Negative Sentiment: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled Meta must face a state lawsuit alleging features were designed to addict teens — the decision increases legal and regulatory risk and could widen damages exposure if similar suits progress. Meta must face youth addiction lawsuit by Massachusetts, court rules
• Negative Sentiment: Meta pulled ads recruiting potential plaintiffs for social‑media addiction suits — a defensive PR/legal move that underscores ongoing litigation pressure and recent adverse jury outcomes. Meta pulls ads aimed at recruiting plaintiffs for social media addiction lawsuits

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up from $770.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $856.00 to $765.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $838.04.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on META

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of META opened at $629.83 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $628.78 and its 200-day moving average is $654.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $59.89 billion for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.02 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.94%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, February 15th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,746,335.16. This trade represents a 16.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred 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. This trade represents a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 160,931 shares of company stock valued at $102,997,526 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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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