Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 241,566 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,798 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.7% of Whittier Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $159,583,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Goldstone Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 44.4% during the 3rd 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 period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 34.2% in 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 during the period. Becker Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $25,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,487,000 after purchasing an additional 3,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 6,933 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,091,000 after purchasing an additional 968 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $1,144.00 to $1,015.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Pivotal Research lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $930.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Friday, March 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $837.09.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on META

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $675.50 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $628.34 and a 200-day moving average of $649.13. 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 released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The company had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $8.02 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.83 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is presently 8.94%.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta signed a deal with Overview Energy to secure space‑based solar power (including night‑time infrared beaming) for its data centers — a long‑term move to stabilize power supply and lower carbon/energy risk for heavy AI workloads. Meta partners with space startup Overview Energy to secure solar power for data centers
• Positive Sentiment: Meta and CBRE announced a multi‑year partnership to train thousands of fiber technicians — a capex/operational move that supports network expansion and could improve execution on connectivity investments. Meta Platforms (META) Partners With CBRE to Train Fiber Technicians
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is moving compute strategy toward cost‑efficient hardware by inking a deal to use Amazon’s Graviton processors for AI workloads — a step that may lower AI running costs and protect margins over time. Meta inks deal to use Amazon’s Graviton processors for AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and media pieces outline the pathway to a ~$2T valuation and debate near‑term buy/hold timing — helpful for sentiment framing but not new fundamental data. Here’s How Meta Platforms Gets to a $2 Trillion Valuation.
• Negative Sentiment: China’s National Development and Reform Commission has ordered the parties to withdraw Meta’s planned acquisition of agentic AI startup Manus (reported ~$2B–$2.5B), blocking the deal on national‑security/technology grounds — a direct hit to Meta’s cross‑border AI M&A strategy and a reminder of geopolitical execution risk. China blocks Meta’s acquisition of AI startup Manus
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta is preparing large job cuts (roughly double‑digit percentages reported) as it reallocates spending toward AI signal near‑term disruption and execution risk, even if intended to improve long‑run efficiency. Meta quietly plans massive job cuts as AI spending surges

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The shares were 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 owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 165,600 shares of company stock valued at $106,023,973. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.

Featured Stories

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding META? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Before you consider Meta Platforms, you’ll want to hear this.

MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street’s top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on… and Meta Platforms wasn’t on the list.

While Meta Platforms currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.

View The Five Stocks Here