Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Acquired by Marquette Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Marquette Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta by 4,207.5% in the fourth quarter, buying an additional 9,509 shares to hold 9,735 shares valued at $6,426,000 (about 0.9% of the fund's holdings and its 15th-largest position).
• Meta topped quarterly expectations with EPS of $8.88 versus $8.16 and revenue of $59.89 billion (up 23.8% year-over-year), while positive catalysts — including the unveiling of Muse Spark and stronger ad-revenue reports — helped push the stock higher.
• Insiders have been net sellers recently, offloading 160,931 shares worth roughly $102.998 million over the last three months (notable sales by a director and the COO), leaving corporate insiders with 13.61% ownership.

Marquette Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4,207.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,735 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,509 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.9% of Marquette Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Marquette Asset Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,426,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Vista Capital Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $794,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Trust Co of the South boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the third quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 1,850 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,359,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the third quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Alpine Bank Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management now owns 4,301 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,159,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 454 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $632.02, for a total value of $366,571.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,797,952.54. This trade represents a 11.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $605.38, for a total value of $560,581.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 13,335 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,072,742.30. The trade was a 6.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 160,931 shares of company stock worth $102,997,526. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 6.5%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $612.42 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.06, a PEG ratio of 0.89 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 $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $632.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $655.87.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research restated an "outperform" rating and set a $850.00 price target (up from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Pivotal Research lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $930.00 to $910.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $843.57.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta unveiled Muse Spark, the first model from its Superintelligence Labs — positioned as a natively multimodal reasoning system with multi-agent orchestration and faster rollouts across Meta AI, apps, and upcoming devices; investors view this as a concrete step to close the gap with peers and boost AI-driven ad products. Meta unveils first AI model from superintelligence team (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Market-wide rally after a temporary Iran ceasefire lifted tech stocks broadly — as a Magnificent Seven heavyweight, META benefitted from sector flows and reduced macro risk premium. Tech stocks rally after Iran ceasefire (CNBC)
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI’s shutdown of Sora removes a direct short-form-video challenger, reinforcing the economics of Meta’s integrated Reels approach (AI+human content inside an existing ad engine) and lowering competitive risk to Reels monetization. OpenAI Shutters Sora: A Win for Meta Platforms (MarketBeat)
• Positive Sentiment: Reports of strong ad-revenue growth and partnerships (including a PayPal tie-up noted by some outlets) are renewing confidence that Meta’s core monetization can accelerate alongside AI product upgrades. Ad growth and PayPal partnership boost (247wallst)
• Neutral Sentiment: Early analyst/market positioning remains constructive: high hedge-fund ownership and bullish consensus price targets imply upside expectations, but these are already partly priced into the multiple. Hedge fund ownership and analyst optimism (InsiderMonkey)
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage of Muse Spark is mixed — outlets note meaningful improvements vs. Meta’s prior models but also weaknesses (e.g., coding performance still trails top rivals), so execution and benchmarks will matter for sustained upside. Muse Spark review and limitations (NYT)
• Negative Sentiment: An analyst downgrade to “Hold” and continuing investor concerns about heavy AI spending, layoff headlines, and legal exposures remain near-term risk factors that could cap gains if execution or margins disappoint. Analyst downgrades Meta to Hold (Yahoo Finance)

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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