Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Central Securities Corp

Key Points

• Central Securities Corp trimmed its stake in Meta by 10.0% in Q3, selling 10,000 shares and now holding 90,000 shares valued at $66,094,000, with Meta representing 5.4% of the firm’s portfolio (its 6th-largest holding).
• Insiders sold a total of 160,927 shares worth $103.16M in the last quarter, including COO Javier Olivan (2,461 shares) and CTO Andrew Bosworth (8,089 shares), materially reducing their individual holdings.
• Meta beat quarterly estimates with $8.88 EPS versus $8.16 expected and $59.89B revenue (up 23.8% YoY), announced a $0.525 quarterly dividend, and has seen analyst price-target upgrades and several positive ratings.

Central Securities Corp cut its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 10.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 90,000 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 10,000 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 5.4% of Central Securities Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Central Securities Corp's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $66,094,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the second quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,506 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,587,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co of the South raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 1,850 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,359,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $672,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Alpine Bank Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management now owns 4,301 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,159,000 after acquiring 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 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 454 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $334,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Signed a multiyear AI content‑licensing deal with News Corp that provides paid access to news content for training/retrieval — supports AI product quality and reduces legal/quality risk around training data. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Created a new applied AI engineering organization to speed model development and partner with its Superintelligence Lab — signals accelerated product rollout and continued R&D investment that can boost ad/product monetization. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group upgraded META from "hold" to "buy", adding a positive analyst catalyst that can support demand in the stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Company presentation at Morgan Stanley TMT conference provided additional management commentary and analyst color — useful for positioning but not an immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Arete Research reaffirmed a "neutral" rating, offering little directional pressure today.
• Negative Sentiment: Under EU antitrust pressure, Meta will allow rival AI chatbots onto WhatsApp in Europe (via its Business API) for a fee for the next 12 months — a concession that reduces immediate regulatory risk but highlights EU scrutiny and could erode WhatsApp exclusivity. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales disclosed this week — CFO Susan Li sold ~56,571 shares (~$36.5M) and COO Javier Olivan also sold shares — which can create headline pressure and short‑term selling even if plan‑driven. Read More. • Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/reputational pressure from Indonesia, which issued a "stern warning" over disinformation and gambling content and pressed for greater algorithm transparency — potential compliance costs or restrictions in a large market. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Operational risks surfaced: recent U.S. user outages (short‑term engagement/ad impression risk) and reports Meta scrapped its second‑generation Olympus AI chip effort — the latter could raise execution risk and greater reliance on external GPU suppliers. Read More. • Read More.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $660.41 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $655.36 and a 200-day moving average of $682.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 company's revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $8.02 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" 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. Mizuho boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $900.00 price target (up from $870.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $844.44.

Meta Platforms 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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