Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Has $1.67 Billion Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo raised its Meta position by 2.1% to 2,272,907 shares, worth about $1.67 billion, making META its third‑largest holding (~4.7% of the fund).
• Several insiders sold sizable stakes recently — CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares and CFO Susan Li sold 56,571 shares, with insiders disposing of 161,446 shares (~$103.45 million) in the quarter — a potential negative for near‑term sentiment.
• Meta reported stronger-than-expected results (EPS $8.88 vs. $8.16; revenue $59.89B, +23.8% YoY), rolled out an in‑house AI chip roadmap and strategic AI acquisitions, and has seen analyst price‑target upgrades supporting a "Moderate Buy" consensus.

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,272,907 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 46,880 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 4.7% of Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC owned about 0.09% of Meta Platforms worth $1,669,178,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $6,212,506,000 after purchasing an additional 8,405,558 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532,568 shares during the period. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 948.7% during the 3rd quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 1,243,577 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,124,998 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Rolled out a roadmap of four new in‑house AI chips to expand data‑center capacity and cut dependence on third‑party hardware — a move that should lower long‑term costs and support Meta’s AI scale and margins. Meta unveils plans for batch of in-house AI chips
• Positive Sentiment: Acquired Moltbook, a viral social network for AI agents, and brought its founders into Meta’s Superintelligence Labs — an inexpensive talent & capability win that reinforces Meta’s AI roadmap and content‑generation/testing capabilities. Meta acquires AI agent social network Moltbook
• Positive Sentiment: Launched AI‑powered anti‑scam tools across WhatsApp, Facebook and Messenger — a user‑safety boost that can protect engagement and advertiser confidence on its platforms. Meta rolls out new scam detection tools to Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger
• Neutral Sentiment: Street commentary (Evercore/Barron’s) suggests internet names including META may be oversold after AI worries and geopolitical risk — a catalyst that could attract value buyers but depends on macro sentiment. Amazon, Uber, and Other Internet Stocks Look Too Cheap After AI and Iran Worries
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: COO Javier Olivan sold multiple blocks of shares (hundreds of shares reported), trimming his position — a near‑term negative signal that can weigh on sentiment even if routine. SEC filing: Javier Olivan sales
• Negative Sentiment: Announced a 2–5% “location fee” for advertisers to cover some European digital taxes — could pressure ad rates/advertiser spend in affected markets and be a small drag on revenue growth. Meta to charge advertisers a fee to offset Europe's digital taxes
• Negative Sentiment: Dutch appeals court upheld a ruling forcing Meta to offer chronological feeds in the Netherlands — a regulatory loss that could affect engagement/personalization and set precedents for further restrictions. Dutch court upholds ruling forcing Meta to offer chronological feeds

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total value of $5,106,100.36. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,793,352.84. The trade was a 74.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 161,446 shares of company stock worth $103,451,688 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wolfe Research restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $850.00 price objective (up from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $800.00 price objective on the stock. Arete Research reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $844.44.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $654.86 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The business has a 50-day moving average of $654.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $679.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25.

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 business 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 business posted $8.02 EPS. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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%.

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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