1,309 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Bought by River Street Advisors LLC

Key Points

• River Street Advisors bought 1,309 Meta shares worth approximately $949,000 in the third quarter, while other hedge funds also increased their positions. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of Meta’s stock.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with Meta carrying a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $833.12. Recent quarterly results exceeded expectations, including earnings of $7.40 per share and revenue of $64.60 billion, up 26.1% year over year.
• Meta’s AI expansion is attracting investor interest but brings risks, including potential shareholder dilution, heavy capital spending, margin pressure and substantial recent insider selling under pre-arranged trading plans.

River Street Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,309 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $949,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. MLP3 LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 280.4% during the third quarter. MLP3 LLC now owns 2,195 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,591,000 after purchasing an additional 1,618 shares during the last quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 15.8% during the third quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,686 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,673,000 after buying an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.2% in the third quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 1,613 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,169,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Credit Capital Investments LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 46.5% in the third quarter. Credit Capital Investments LLC now owns 6,300 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $4,569,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boomfish Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the third quarter. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,547 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $4,748,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. 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: Meta priced a $25 billion Class A common-stock offering and a $12.5 billion mandatory convertible preferred-stock offering, with proceeds earmarked for its artificial-intelligence infrastructure. The common offering reportedly attracted demand several times greater than the shares available, suggesting institutional interest in Meta’s AI strategy. Meta offering pricing
• Positive Sentiment: Nvidia plans to invest $3 billion in Meta and expand its partnership around Meta’s Muse AI assistant and models. The deal provides third-party validation for Meta’s AI ambitions and may help secure access to Nvidia hardware. Nvidia invests in Meta partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s core advertising business remains strong: ad impressions increased 10% year over year, average ad prices rose 14%, and AI improvements reportedly lifted app-ad conversions by 9.6%. Early adoption of Muse and new AI experiments such as Waddle World could create future commerce and subscription revenue. Meta AI risk and reward
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta delayed indefinitely the rollout of new commercial terms after publisher objections. The move could reduce near-term conflict but leaves unresolved questions about the company’s relationship with media organizations and use of publisher content. Meta delays commercial terms
• Negative Sentiment: The major concern is dilution: Meta is pursuing nearly $98 billion in equity financing, including new common and convertible preferred securities. Investors appear worried that the funding will reduce per-share value even if it finances long-term AI growth. Meta stock analysis and dilution
• Negative Sentiment: AI investment is weighing heavily on near-term financials. Capital expenditures reached $34.9 billion, producing negative free cash flow of $2.1 billion, while higher spending and legal costs pressured margins. This has led some analysts to downgrade the stock, despite revenue exceeding expectations. Meta AI spending downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Meta COO Javier Olivan sold shares worth approximately $1.0 million in two transactions. Both sales were executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing their significance as a signal of management’s outlook. SEC insider transaction filing

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Mizuho increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Roth Capital reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $750.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $920.00 to $940.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Meta Platforms from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $833.12.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 3,240 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.06, for a total value of $2,002,514.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 6,271 shares in the company, valued at $3,875,854.26. This represents a 34.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,848 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total transaction of $4,379,184.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 828 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $462,024. This represents a 90.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 150,015 shares of company stock worth $102,464,300 over the last ninety days. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.2%

NASDAQ META opened at $612.49 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $779.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.88, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.19. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $667.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $632.53.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The social networking company reported $7.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.54 by $0.86. The firm had revenue of $64.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 30.73% and a net margin of 31.15%. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 26.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $7.25 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.98 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 21st were paid a dividend of $0.5250 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 21st. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 7.16%.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc is a technology company that develops social networking, messaging, virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence products. The company's principal platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Threads, which enable users to connect, communicate, share content, and discover products and services.

Meta also operates Reality Labs, its division focused on virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies. Reality Labs develops products such as Meta Quest virtual reality headsets and related software and experiences, along with research and hardware intended to support immersive computing.

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