Gotham Asset Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Gotham Asset Management boosted its stake in Meta by 13.7% in Q3 to 111,755 shares worth about $82.07 million, making Meta ~0.4% of its portfolio and its 14th largest holding.
• Major corporate developments — reports of a planned ~20% workforce cut and a multi‑year AI infrastructure deal with Nebius (reported up to $27 billion) — have driven investor debate between expected cost savings and concerns over heavy near‑term CapEx and margin pressure.
• Insiders have been net sellers (about 159,830 shares worth ~$102.4M over three months, including the CFO’s sale), while analysts remain mostly positive with a consensus "Moderate Buy" and an average price target near $844.44.

Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 111,755 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 13,453 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.4% of Gotham Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Gotham Asset Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $82,071,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Goldstone Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 44.4% in the third quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,756,000 after buying an additional 1,153 shares during the period. CW Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.8% during the 2nd quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 176,762 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $130,467,000 after acquiring an additional 38,432 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 34.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,252 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $38,373,000 after acquiring an additional 13,311 shares in the last quarter. Cherokee Insurance Co purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,321,000. Finally, Becker Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $25,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,657 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $634.94, for a total value of $587,954.44. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,187 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,642,833.78. This represents a 5.75% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 159,830 shares of company stock worth $102,409,190. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on META shares. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $800.00 price target (up from $770.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,117.00 to $1,144.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $844.44.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $627.45 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $652.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $676.01. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. The company had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $8.02 EPS. As a group, 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 announced 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. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.94%.

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.

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