KBC Group NV Acquires 44,950 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• KBC Group NV bought an additional 44,950 shares of Meta in Q4 (a 2.7% increase), raising its stake to 1,719,104 shares worth about $1.135 billion and making Meta its seventh-largest holding.
• Meta struck a multiyear, multibillion-dollar deal to deploy AWS Graviton5 cores for AI workloads and announced plans to cut roughly 10% of its workforce and freeze hiring to fund AI investments and reduce capex risk.
• Insiders sold 166,117 shares (~$106.4 million) in the past 90 days, yet analysts have boosted targets and MarketBeat shows a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a $837.09 target.

KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,719,104 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 44,950 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.6% of KBC Group NV's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. KBC Group NV owned approximately 0.07% of Meta Platforms worth $1,134,764,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Dorato Capital Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $62,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 26.3% in the 4th quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 96 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, eCIO Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $66,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta signed a multiyear, multibillion-dollar agreement to deploy tens of millions of AWS Graviton5 cores to power its agentic AI workloads — investors view this as a scalable, cost-efficient way to boost AI capacity and cut future capex risk. Meta strikes deal with Amazon's cloud unit to use its CPU chips
• Positive Sentiment: Management announced plans to cut ~10% of the workforce (~8,000 roles) and freeze hiring for ~6,000 openings to "run more efficiently" and offset AI investments — a move markets often reward when paired with heavy AI capex. Meta will cut 10% of workforce as it pushes more into AI
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support and buy-side interest (price-target upgrades and bullish notes on AI-driven ad monetization) are reinforcing the upside narrative around revenue and margins. Guggenheim reaffirms buy and sets $850 target
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider sales by the COO were disclosed (executed under a Rule 10b5‑1 plan) — routine but noted by traders watching insider activity. SEC filing: Javier Olivan insider sales
• Negative Sentiment: Staff reactions describe weeks of limbo and morale damage ("28 days of hell") ahead of the May cuts, raising execution and product-risk concerns if key teams are disrupted. Meta employees react to pending job cuts
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta is tracking employee keystrokes and web usage to train AI models raise privacy/ethical questions and potential regulatory scrutiny that could create reputational or legal costs. Meta is tracking employee usage for AI training
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing legal/ESG pressures (court rulings, shareholder proposals on human rights and AI energy/climate impacts) remain a medium-term headwind for sentiment and could spur additional disclosures or costs. Meta faces new ESG pressures

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $667.00, for a total transaction of $386,860.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,565,949. This trade represents a 13.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $680.09, for a total value of $629,763.34. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,631 shares in the company, valued at $6,549,946.79. This represents a 8.77% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 166,117 shares of company stock worth $106,367,778. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up from $770.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $910.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $837.09.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $675.50 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.31. 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 $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $628.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $650.06.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $8.02 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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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