Chemung Canal Trust Co. Raises Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Chemung Canal Trust Co. raised its stake in Meta by 27.1% in Q4 to 12,799 shares (worth $8.448 million), making META its 15th-largest holding and 1.7% of the firm's portfolio.
• Meta posted a strong quarter—EPS $8.88 vs. $8.16 expected and revenue $59.89B (up 23.8%)—and several analysts raised targets, leaving a MarketBeat consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $845.54.
• Insiders have been net sellers (including the COO and CTO), with 161,448 shares sold valued at $103.3M in the last 90 days, even as institutional ownership remains high at about 79.9%.

Chemung Canal Trust Co. increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 27.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,799 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,729 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.7% of Chemung Canal Trust Co.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Chemung Canal Trust Co.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,448,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.3% in the 4th quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 96 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 64.8% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Wedbush upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $850.00 price objective (up from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $845.54.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $572.13 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $641.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $663.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $8.02 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Sunday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total transaction of $1,574,473.97. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,108 shares in the company, valued at $7,746,335.16. This represents a 16.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total value of $5,106,100.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,793,352.84. This trade represents a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 161,448 shares of company stock valued at $103,333,788. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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 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.