Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Boosts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Meta by 5.1% in Q4 to 15,243 shares worth $10.06 million, while hedge funds and other institutions now own about 79.91% of the company.
• Meta beat Q4 estimates with EPS of $8.88 versus $8.16 and revenue of $59.89 billion (up 23.8% YoY), spurring raised analyst price targets and a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $837.72.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 ($2.10 annualized, 0.3% yield), but faces near‑term headwinds from EU regulatory action on WhatsApp AI access, rising component costs that prompted Quest price hikes, and notable insider share sales.

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,243 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 742 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,062,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Provident Living Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $1,598,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 5,437 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,589,000 after buying an additional 589 shares during the period. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC now owns 753 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $497,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Stone House Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 27.4% during the fourth quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 474 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $313,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the period. Finally, Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 6,010 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,967,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.8%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $676.87 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.31. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $626.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $652.21. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $8.02 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on META shares. Mizuho upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $872.00 target price (up from $830.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Argus reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $800.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $820.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Four 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $837.72.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Expanded multi‑year AI chip partnership with Broadcom supports Meta’s plan to scale in‑house AI accelerators and networking capacity through 2029, reducing supply risk and boosting long‑term margin/compute control. Meta, Broadcom strike multi-year AI chip deal
• Positive Sentiment: CoreWeave confirmed Meta added roughly $21 billion of new commitments through 2032, signaling large, durable demand for AI cloud capacity tied to Meta’s training/inference needs. CoreWeave's April Shockwave — Meta, Anthropic, Jane Street All Say Yes
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish analyst coverage: TD Cowen reaffirmed a Buy and set an $820 target, and Morgan Stanley named META a top Big Tech pick — both lift sentiment and buying interest. TD Cowen reiterates buy; $820 target
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s aggressive AI capex plans (massive 2026 investments) reinforce the company’s long‑term AI thesis but also imply near‑term heavy spending that could pressure free cash flow. Is Meta Platforms a Hot Internet Content and Information Stock as It Invests Heavily in AI?
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro: weekly jobless claims came in below expectations, a positive economic signal that can support ad demand and broad market risk appetite. Weekly Jobless Claims Below Expectations
• Neutral Sentiment: Internal changes at Reality Labs aim to speed hardware development — potentially positive for metaverse ambitions but execution risk remains. Meta Makes Major Changes to Speed Reality Labs' Progress
• Negative Sentiment: EU regulators moved to force Meta to restore full WhatsApp access for rival AI assistants and ordered rollback of the access fee — a material regulatory risk that could limit monetization options and invite fines. EU warns Meta WhatsApp AI fee breaches antitrust rules, orders rollback
• Negative Sentiment: Meta will raise Quest VR headset prices in the U.S. starting April 19 due to higher memory chip costs — could damp demand for hardware and signal margin pressure in consumer devices. Meta to raise Quest VR headset prices in US on rising component costs
• Negative Sentiment: COO Javier Olivan executed planned Rule 10b5‑1 sales, reducing his stake meaningfully; although on a trading plan, such sales can be perceived negatively by some investors. SEC filing: Javier Olivan insider sales

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total value of $1,748,612.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,645,103.65. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 164,499 shares of company stock worth $105,237,895. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

About Meta Platforms

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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