Merit Financial Group LLC Has $66.90 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 19.7% in Q4 to 101,346 shares, valued at approximately $66.90 million per its latest Form 13F filing.
• Meta struck a multiyear, multibillion-dollar deal to deploy AWS Graviton5 cores for AI workloads and simultaneously announced roughly a 10% workforce reduction and a hiring freeze to fund AI investments, a move seen as efficiency-enhancing but that has raised morale, privacy and ESG concerns.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish—several price-target upgrades and "buy" ratings—supported by a recent earnings beat and a $1.71 trillion market cap, while institutional ownership is high (~79.9%) even as insiders have made Rule 10b5-1 sales.

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 101,346 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 16,676 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $66,897,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $64,158,971,000 after buying an additional 1,650,435 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,247,690 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $28,823,375,000 after acquiring an additional 278,180 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,153,754 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $12,597,374,000 after acquiring an additional 142,229 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 14,332,168 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $10,525,258,000 after acquiring an additional 558,792 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 13,619,341 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $10,001,772,000 after acquiring an additional 481,276 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key 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

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $675.50 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.31. 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 company's fifty day moving average price is $628.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $649.13. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $520.26 and a 52-week high of $796.25.

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. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion for 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 for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $8.02 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.83 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $6,549,946.79. The trade was a 8.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $667.00, for a total transaction of $386,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,847 shares in the company, valued at $2,565,949. This trade represents a 13.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 165,600 shares of company stock worth $106,023,973 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on META shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $820.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $910.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wolfe Research dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $837.09.

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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