Amiral Gestion Sells 26,343 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Amiral Gestion cut its Meta stake by 94% in Q4, selling 26,343 shares and ending the period with 1,670 shares worth $1.102 million (about 0.4% of its portfolio and the firm's 23rd largest holding).
• Meta beat quarterly estimates with $8.88 EPS vs. $8.16 expected and $59.89 billion revenue (up 23.8% YoY), and Wall Street maintains a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $845.54.
• Institutional activity is mixed: Norges Bank reportedly initiated a roughly $23.16 billion position and several funds increased stakes, while insiders sold 161,448 shares (~$103.3 million) over the past 90 days (insiders own 13.61% of the company).

Amiral Gestion lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 94.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,670 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 26,343 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.4% of Amiral Gestion's portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Amiral Gestion's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,102,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $6,212,506,000 after buying an additional 8,405,558 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after buying an additional 1,650,435 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $1,191,175,000. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 948.7% during the third quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 1,243,577 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,124,998 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $900.00 target price (up from $870.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $845.54.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 6.7%

Shares of META stock opened at $572.13 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $641.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $663.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The business had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.Meta Platforms's revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $8.02 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $632.02, for a total transaction of $366,571.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,797,952.54. This trade represents a 11.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $605.38, for a total value of $560,581.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 13,335 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,072,742.30. This represents a 6.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 161,448 shares of company stock valued at $103,333,788 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched new Ray‑Ban prescription smart glasses and Oakley updates that add hands‑free features (nutrition logging, real‑time translation), reinforcing growth prospects for Reality Labs and consumer AR wearables. Article Title Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Meta and Corning broke ground on a large optical‑cable expansion in North Carolina to support AI data‑center buildout—strengthening Meta’s supply chain for AI infrastructure. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market pieces highlight Meta’s AI and engagement feature rollouts (and recent product launches) as drivers for ad growth; buy‑side firms including Morgan Stanley/others continue to call the pullback a tactical buying opportunity. Article Title Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is testing Instagram Plus (paid tier) and other monetization experiments; these could boost ARPU if scaled, but are currently limited pilot programs. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is sharing retail and wearables learnings with partners to help physical retail for its AI/VR products—incremental channel development, uncertain near‑term revenue impact. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Meta suffered two major legal setbacks: a New Mexico ruling holding it accountable for child safety and an LA jury finding apps were designed to addict teens—both raise potential damages, regulatory pressure and litigation risk. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Indonesia summoned Meta over non‑compliance with new rules protecting under‑16 users, and regulators in other markets are flagging potential breaches—heightening compliance costs and moderation burdens. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Meta announced another round of layoffs impacting ~168 Washington state employees, signalling continued cost actions but also operational disruption in key VR/Reality teams. Article Title

Meta Platforms 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.

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