Goelzer Investment Management Inc. Acquires 2,885 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Goelzer Investment Management increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 32.2% in Q4, adding 2,885 shares to hold 11,856 shares worth about $7.83 million.
• Corporate insiders sold a net 161,448 shares valued at $103.33 million in the last quarter — including CFO Susan Li's sale of 56,571 shares ($36.47M) — leaving insiders with 13.61% ownership.
• Meta beat quarterly estimates with EPS $8.88 vs. $8.16 and revenue of $59.89B (up 23.8% YoY), announced a $0.525 quarterly dividend, and carries a MarketBeat consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a $843.57 price target.

Goelzer Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 32.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,856 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,885 shares during the quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Goldstone Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 44.4% in the 3rd quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,756,000 after purchasing an additional 1,153 shares during the period. CW Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.8% during the second quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 176,762 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $130,467,000 after purchasing an additional 38,432 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 34.2% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,252 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $38,373,000 after purchasing an additional 13,311 shares during the last quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.0% in the third quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $25,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $55,487,000 after buying an additional 3,336 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of the stock in a transaction on Sunday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total value of $1,574,473.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,746,335.16. This represents a 16.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 161,448 shares of company stock valued at $103,333,788. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley kept Meta as a top pick despite trimming its price target to $775, signaling continued conviction in the company's long‑term AI and ad recovery story. Morgan Stanley trims PT
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is building an elite AI lab for its recommendations division and deploying AI to accelerate risk reviews — moves that should improve product relevancy, ad monetization, and safety over time. Business Insider: AI lab
• Positive Sentiment: Product updates (new Ray‑Ban prescription smart glasses) expand hardware monetization optionality and signal progress in Reality Labs consumer offerings. MSN: Ray‑Ban glasses
• Neutral Sentiment: China’s commerce ministry said it supports law‑abiding transnational tech deals amid reports of a review of a Meta transaction — a stabilizing comment for deal risk but not a definitive clearance. Reuters: China supports deals
• Negative Sentiment: Wells Fargo cut Meta’s price target sharply to $765 (from $856) though it kept an Overweight rating — the sizable PT cut reinforces near‑term sentiment weakness despite a positive medium‑term view; Wells Fargo highlighted upcoming earnings as a potential catalyst. Invezz: Wells Fargo PT cut
• Negative Sentiment: Erste Group downgraded META from Buy to Hold, adding to analyst caution and likely contributing to selling pressure. Finviz: Erste downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Recent legal losses (New Mexico civil penalties and a “bellwether” California jury verdict) are the largest near‑term overhang — they raise the risk of follow‑on suits, potential billings for damages/legal fees, and political/regulatory scrutiny that could materially affect sentiment and valuation. MarketBeat: legal losses analysis

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $856.00 to $765.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $785.00 to $820.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $843.57.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $574.46 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $639.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $662.03. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.31.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $8.02 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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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