Hendershot Investments Inc. Has $6.48 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Hendershot Investments trimmed its Meta stake by 43.9% in Q3, selling 6,922 shares and now holding 8,830 shares worth about $6.48 million; institutional investors collectively own 79.91% of the stock.
• Heavy insider selling was disclosed: COO Javier Olivan and CTO Andrew Bosworth executed notable sales, and insiders sold a total of 160,927 shares valued at roughly $103.16 million over the past three months, while corporate insiders still hold 13.61%.
• Meta reported stronger-than-expected Q results (EPS $8.88 vs. $8.16 estimate; revenue $59.89B, up 23.8%), and analysts have raised price targets, leaving a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $844.44.

Hendershot Investments Inc. trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 43.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,830 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 6,922 shares during the quarter. Hendershot Investments Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,484,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 19,566 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $14,339,000 after buying an additional 2,880 shares during the period. Holderness Investments Co. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.9% during the third quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 6,544 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $4,806,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Strategies Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.9% in the third quarter. Strategies Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,404,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. Aprio Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the third quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,040 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $4,436,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commons Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.3% during the third quarter. Commons Capital LLC now owns 5,276 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,874,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Closed multiyear AI/content and chip-supply deals that should improve model training quality and reduce sourcing risk — supports AI product road map and longer-term ad/engagement upside. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Signed paid content-licensing arrangements (reported coverage highlights a News Corp deal) and created a new applied-AI engineering organization to speed model development — both point to faster commercialization of AI features that can lift ad yields. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Prominent investors and some brokers continue to list META as a buy or top idea (e.g., inclusion on Bill Ackman-related lists and select upgrades), supporting demand from long-term investors. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Company presented at investor conferences and several sell‑side reports reiterated valuation/scale arguments — useful for analyst color but not an immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Wall Street downgrades and cut price targets citing concerns that Meta is “lagging on AI” — raises short-term growth and competition worries and likely contributed to intraday selling pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales disclosed: CFO Susan Li sold roughly $36.5M and COO Javier Olivan also executed significant sales — while often planned (tax/vesting), these filers increase headline risk and can create short-term supply. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and competition pressure in Europe and Indonesia — Meta agreed to allow rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp in Europe (for a fee) to head off EU action, and Indonesia issued warnings over disinformation and algorithm transparency, adding compliance and revenue uncertainty in key markets. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: 13F filings show several high‑profile managers trimmed or exited META in Q4 — signals profit‑taking and reduced conviction from some large investors. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped 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. Evercore raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $885.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $860.00 target price (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Three equities 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $844.44.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Sunday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total value of $1,574,473.97. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 12,108 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,746,335.16. The trade was a 16.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,793,352.84. This represents a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 160,927 shares of company stock valued at $103,155,254 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $644.86 on Friday. 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 stock's fifty day simple moving average is $654.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $681.65. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (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%. The business's revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $8.02 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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