Palouse Capital Management Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Palouse Capital Management increased its position in Meta Platforms by 53% in Q4, owning 3,153 shares after buying an additional 1,092 shares, with the stake valued at about $2.08 million.
• Meta posted an earnings beat—$8.88 EPS versus $8.16 expected—and revenue of $59.89 billion (up 23.8% YoY), while analysts remain broadly bullish with a consensus "Moderate Buy" and a $836.30 price target.
• Near‑term risks include planned layoffs of roughly 10% of headcount and substantial insider sales (164,562 shares worth about $105.3M last quarter, including sales by the CTO and COO), which could add selling pressure or signal execution concerns.

Palouse Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 53.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,153 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,092 shares during the quarter. Palouse Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Curtis Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 402.1% in the 4th quarter. Curtis Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,624 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,052,000 after acquiring an additional 3,703 shares in the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 9,506 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $6,275,000 after acquiring an additional 825 shares in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 3,532 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,331,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Successful Portfolios LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Successful Portfolios LLC now owns 1,160 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $758,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SFM LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. SFM LLC now owns 4,083 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,695,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta expanded its AI infrastructure strategy by partnering with Broadcom to develop custom AI chips, a move investors view as reducing dependence on NVIDIA and potentially lowering long‑term AI costs. The Meta‑Broadcom AI Chip Deal
• Positive Sentiment: Performance divergence vs. Alphabet highlights Meta’s stronger recent investor returns and market leadership in ad recovery and AI monetization, supporting a bullish narrative on share appreciation. Meta vs. Alphabet: One Just Handed Investors a 40% Return
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to call Meta a momentum buy after strong app metrics and downloads; Barclays reaffirmed a Buy and other outlets highlight long‑term momentum, which helps underpin demand for the shares. Meta Gets Analyst Approval After Record App Downloads
• Neutral Sentiment: Bank of America trimmed its price target to $820 from $885 but kept a Buy rating — a modest downgrade to upside while signaling confidence in Meta’s ad and AI positioning. BofA Trims Meta Price Target to $820
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple pre‑earnings writeups and fund‑level analyses (Rowan Street Capital, InsiderMonkey pieces) are increasing investor attention ahead of results — this raises volatility but not a clear directional signal. Rowan Street Capital’s Analysis on Meta
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is preparing a large round of layoffs beginning May 20 (reported as ~10% of headcount), which signals cost pressure from rising AI infrastructure spending and raises near‑term execution risks and employee disruption. Meta Prepares for "May 20" Layoffs
• Negative Sentiment: An SEC filing shows a Meta director sold about $386,860 in stock; insider sales can create short‑term selling pressure or signal portfolio rebalancing concerns. Director Sells $386,860 in Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Competition is intensifying as Apple tests AI‑powered smart glasses — a credible rival in the AR hardware race that could pressure future device monetization. How Apple Plans to Compete with Meta In Smart Glasses

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of META opened at $670.91 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm's fifty day moving average is $627.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $650.39. The stock has a market cap of $1.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.31.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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 presently 8.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on META shares. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Roth Mkm cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $872.00 price target (up from $830.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $836.30.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total transaction of $5,106,100.36. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,841 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,793,352.84. The trade was a 74.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total transaction of $1,748,612.10. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 164,562 shares of company stock valued at $105,310,238. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.