Focus Partners Wealth Increases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 28.2%, owning 745,357 shares worth about $547.35 million after adding 163,866 shares in the quarter.
• Meta beat expectations, reporting $8.88 EPS versus $8.16 estimated and revenue of $59.89 billion (up 23.8% year‑over‑year), and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 ($2.10 annualized).
• Analysts are broadly bullish with multiple price‑target raises and an average target of $844.44 (consensus "Moderate Buy"), though sentiment is mixed amid reports of planned layoffs and a costly up‑to‑$27 billion AI infrastructure deal.

Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 28.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 745,357 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 163,866 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Wealth's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $547,349,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $44,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 64.8% during 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 last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on META. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $872.00 price objective (up from $830.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,117.00 to $1,144.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $844.44.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $627.45 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.70, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.30. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $652.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $676.01.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $8.02 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $634.94, for a total transaction of $587,954.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,187 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,642,833.78. This trade represents a 5.75% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 159,830 shares of company stock worth $102,409,190. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta is preparing to cut roughly 20% of its workforce pushed expectations for multi‑billion dollar annual cost savings and sparked a rally as investors priced in faster path to profitability. Meta shares jump after Reuters report on plans for layoffs of 20% or more
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan reiterated an Overweight rating and reiterated a high price target, providing institutional support for the stock amid the headlines. Analysts set Meta stock price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta signed a large multi‑year AI infrastructure agreement with Nebius (reported up to $27B) — it secures compute capacity critical for scaling AI but also confirms very large future spend commitments. Markets see this as strategic but capital‑intensive. Meta signs deal worth up to $27 billion with Nebius for AI infrastructure
• Neutral Sentiment: Several bullish analyst/strategy pieces argue the pullback is a buying opportunity given Meta’s scale, ad growth and AI monetization runway — providing counterweight to cost/CapEx concerns. Delays, Compute Deals, And Sky‑High CapEx: Why I'm Still Bullish On Meta
• Neutral Sentiment: Nebius and other cloud partners have seen strong share moves on the deal, highlighting that Meta’s AI commitments are reshaping the supplier landscape even if the direct near‑term benefit to Meta is mixed. Meta's $27B AI Cloud Deal Sends Nebius Group Stock Soaring
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports flag surging AI spending, product delays (Avocado AI, smart glasses) and high CapEx plans — investors worry these investments could pressure margins and cash flow before monetization. Meta Reportedly Plans Job Cuts as AI Spending Surges
• Negative Sentiment: Advertiser pushback on a new Facebook/Instagram payment policy raises modest short‑term ad revenue execution risk if it leads to reduced spend from affected advertisers. Why some Facebook and Instagram advertisers are freaking out about a new payment policy
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/regulatory uncertainty — including EU debates over content‑detection rules — keeps policy risk on investors’ radars; outcomes could affect compliance costs and product implementations in Europe. EU fails to extend rules on child abuse content detection by online platforms

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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