Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by SMART Wealth LLC

Key Points

• SMART Wealth LLC cut its stake in Meta by 65.6% in Q4, selling 993 shares and leaving it with 520 shares worth about $343,000 at the end of the reporting period.
• Company insiders have been net sellers recently — COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares (~$1.75M) and CFO Susan Li sold 56,571 shares (~$36.5M); insiders sold a total of 165,600 shares (≈$106M) in the last three months and now own 13.61% of the stock.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of about $837, while positive catalysts cited include a multibillion AWS Graviton5 deal and management’s plan to cut ~10% of the workforce to offset AI investments.

SMART Wealth LLC lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 65.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 520 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 993 shares during the period. SMART Wealth LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $343,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $48,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 64.8% during the third quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. PMV Capital Advisers LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 26.3% during the fourth quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 96 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $71,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on META shares. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $850.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $856.00 to $765.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised 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 note on Thursday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $837.09.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total value of $1,748,612.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 165,600 shares of company stock valued at $106,023,973. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ META opened at $675.50 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $628.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $649.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. 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.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $8.02 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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