Thomasville National Bank Buys 3,746 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Thomasville National Bank boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.4%, adding 3,746 shares to hold 43,489 shares worth $28.707 million, about 1.8% of the bank’s portfolio and its 18th-largest position.
• Strong quarterly results: Meta reported Q4 EPS of $8.88 (vs. $8.16 est.) and revenue of $59.89 billion (up 23.8% YoY), trades at a $1.71 trillion market cap, and has seen analyst price-target upgrades that leave a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $837.09.
• Corporate developments include a quarterly dividend of $0.525 ($2.10 annualized), a planned ~10% workforce cut and a multiyear AWS Graviton5 deal to scale AI capacity, while substantial insider selling and privacy/regulatory concerns present potential headwinds.

Thomasville National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 9.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 43,489 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,746 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.8% of Thomasville National Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Thomasville National Bank's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $28,707,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $64,158,971,000 after buying an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $1,191,175,000. Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 948.7% during the third quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 1,243,577 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $913,000 after buying an additional 1,124,998 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 209.3% during the third quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 430,434 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $314,340,000 after buying an additional 824,276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $540,634,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $675.50 on Friday. 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 market cap of $1.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.31. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $628.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $649.62.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $8.02 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid 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 yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $872.00 to $908.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Friday, March 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $837.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total value of $5,106,100.36. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 166,117 shares of company stock valued at $106,367,778. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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

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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