AE Wealth Management LLC Purchases 36,379 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• AE Wealth Management boosted its Meta stake by 36,379 shares (an 11.7% increase) to 347,551 shares, valued at about $229.4 million and representing roughly 1.3% of the firm's portfolio (its 10th largest holding).
• Analysts have been lifting targets and ratings—several firms raised price targets to the $825–$900 range—leaving Meta with a MarketBeat average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target of $837.09.
• Key corporate developments include a multiyear, multibillion-dollar deal to deploy AWS Graviton5 cores to scale AI workloads and a planned ~10% workforce reduction/hiring freeze to offset AI investments, though insider sales, privacy/ESG concerns and execution risks temper the outlook.

AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 11.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 347,551 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 36,379 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.3% of AE Wealth Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. AE Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $229,417,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the third quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $672,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management now owns 4,301 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,159,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 454 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Vista Capital Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $794,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, JGP Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,274 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,653,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $860.00 price target (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $837.09.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta signed a multiyear, multibillion-dollar agreement to deploy tens of millions of AWS Graviton5 cores to power its agentic AI workloads — investors view this as a scalable, cost-efficient way to boost AI capacity and cut future capex risk. Meta strikes deal with Amazon's cloud unit to use its CPU chips
• Positive Sentiment: Management announced plans to cut ~10% of the workforce (~8,000 roles) and freeze hiring for ~6,000 openings to "run more efficiently" and offset AI investments — a move markets often reward when paired with heavy AI capex. Meta will cut 10% of workforce as it pushes more into AI
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support and buy-side interest (price-target upgrades and bullish notes on AI-driven ad monetization) are reinforcing the upside narrative around revenue and margins. Guggenheim reaffirms buy and sets $850 target
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider sales by the COO were disclosed (executed under a Rule 10b5‑1 plan) — routine but noted by traders watching insider activity. SEC filing: Javier Olivan insider sales
• Negative Sentiment: Staff reactions describe weeks of limbo and morale damage ("28 days of hell") ahead of the May cuts, raising execution and product-risk concerns if key teams are disrupted. Meta employees react to pending job cuts
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta is tracking employee keystrokes and web usage to train AI models raise privacy/ethical questions and potential regulatory scrutiny that could create reputational or legal costs. Meta is tracking employee usage for AI training
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing legal/ESG pressures (court rulings, shareholder proposals on human rights and AI energy/climate impacts) remain a medium-term headwind for sentiment and could spur additional disclosures or costs. Meta faces new ESG pressures

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $667.00, for a total transaction of $386,860.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,565,949. This represents a 13.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $680.09, for a total transaction of $629,763.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,549,946.79. The trade was a 8.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 165,600 shares of company stock valued at $106,023,973. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $675.50 on Monday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $628.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $649.13. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $520.26 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.74, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business's revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $8.02 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.94%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.

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.