Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by ICONIQ Capital LLC

Key Points

• ICONIQ Capital LLC slashed its stake in Meta by 86.8% in Q3, selling 9,659 shares and leaving it with 1,473 shares valued at about $1.082 million.
• Company insiders have been notable sellers: CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares (~$36.5M) and CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares, with insiders offloading 159,830 shares (~$102.4M) over the past 90 days.
• Market-moving developments include reports Meta plans to cut roughly 20% of its workforce and a multi‑year AI infrastructure agreement reported up to $27B with Nebius, prompting mixed investor reactions while analysts raise price targets; Meta also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share.

ICONIQ Capital LLC decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 86.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,473 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 9,659 shares during the period. ICONIQ Capital LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,082,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $44,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 64.8% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta is preparing to cut roughly 20% of its workforce pushed expectations for multi‑billion dollar annual cost savings and sparked a rally as investors priced in faster path to profitability. Meta shares jump after Reuters report on plans for layoffs of 20% or more
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan reiterated an Overweight rating and reiterated a high price target, providing institutional support for the stock amid the headlines. Analysts set Meta stock price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta signed a large multi‑year AI infrastructure agreement with Nebius (reported up to $27B) — it secures compute capacity critical for scaling AI but also confirms very large future spend commitments. Markets see this as strategic but capital‑intensive. Meta signs deal worth up to $27 billion with Nebius for AI infrastructure
• Neutral Sentiment: Several bullish analyst/strategy pieces argue the pullback is a buying opportunity given Meta’s scale, ad growth and AI monetization runway — providing counterweight to cost/CapEx concerns. Delays, Compute Deals, And Sky‑High CapEx: Why I'm Still Bullish On Meta
• Neutral Sentiment: Nebius and other cloud partners have seen strong share moves on the deal, highlighting that Meta’s AI commitments are reshaping the supplier landscape even if the direct near‑term benefit to Meta is mixed. Meta's $27B AI Cloud Deal Sends Nebius Group Stock Soaring
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports flag surging AI spending, product delays (Avocado AI, smart glasses) and high CapEx plans — investors worry these investments could pressure margins and cash flow before monetization. Meta Reportedly Plans Job Cuts as AI Spending Surges
• Negative Sentiment: Advertiser pushback on a new Facebook/Instagram payment policy raises modest short‑term ad revenue execution risk if it leads to reduced spend from affected advertisers. Why some Facebook and Instagram advertisers are freaking out about a new payment policy
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/regulatory uncertainty — including EU debates over content‑detection rules — keeps policy risk on investors’ radars; outcomes could affect compliance costs and product implementations in Europe. EU fails to extend rules on child abuse content detection by online platforms

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief technology officer owned 2,841 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,793,352.84. This represents a 74.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 159,830 shares of company stock worth $102,409,190. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wedbush increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $885.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note 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.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $844.44.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $627.45 on Tuesday. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $652.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $676.01. The stock has a market cap of $1.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.70, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $8.02 EPS. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.94%.

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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