Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stock Holdings Lessened by Aberdeen Group plc

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc trimmed its Meta stake by 2.5% in Q4, selling 44,158 shares and ending the period with 1,713,856 shares worth about $1.131 billion, making Meta its 9th-largest holding (1.8% of the fund).
• Analysts remain broadly positive: MarketBeat shows an average rating of Moderate Buy with an average price target of $843.57, backed by 4 Strong Buy, 38 Buy and 8 Hold ratings.
• Meta beat quarterly expectations—reported EPS $8.88 vs. $8.16 est. and revenue $59.89B (+23.8% y/y)—and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 ($2.10 annualized, 0.3% yield).

Aberdeen Group plc decreased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,713,856 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 44,158 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.8% of Aberdeen Group plc's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Aberdeen Group plc owned approximately 0.07% of Meta Platforms worth $1,131,299,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $26,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $44,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC boosted its position 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 worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.3% during the 4th quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 96 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $71,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Arete Research reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $872.00 price target (up from $830.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $910.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $900.00 price target (up from $870.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Four 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $843.57.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $612.42 on Thursday. 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 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.06, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.31. The business's fifty day moving average is $632.71 and its 200 day moving average is $655.87.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The company had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $8.02 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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)

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

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

About Meta Platforms

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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