Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. Has $409,000 Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. cut its Meta position by 82.2% in Q4, leaving it with 619 shares worth about $409,000 after selling 2,854 shares.
• Analysts remain largely bullish — MarketBeat shows a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with an average target of $837.72, and multiple firms recently lifted targets into the $875–$920 range.
• Insiders have been selling (165,079 shares worth ~$105.6M over the past 90 days, including director and COO trades under 10b5‑1 plans), while the company faces near‑term execution and regulatory risks from planned layoffs (~10% of workforce) and potential EU WhatsApp restrictions.

Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. trimmed its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 82.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 619 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,854 shares during the period. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $409,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Dorato Capital Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $62,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 26.3% during the 4th quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 96 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 64.8% during the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, eCIO Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $66,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Argus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $800.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Truist Financial lifted their target price 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. Evercore lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $837.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $667.00, for a total value of $386,860.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,565,949. The trade was a 13.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at $6,645,103.65. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 165,079 shares of company stock worth $105,624,755 over the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Expanded AI partnerships and infrastructure deals boost revenue/AI roadmap visibility — Meta deepened and extended its Broadcom AI‑chip relationship (scaling capacity through 2029), supporting faster AI feature rollout and higher ad/engagement monetization potential. Meta Platforms Taps AVGO for AI Expansion: Buy or Hold META Stock?
• Positive Sentiment: Large capacity commitments to CoreWeave underline sizable, long‑dated AI infrastructure spending that supports Meta’s compute roadmap and revenue mix. This signals durable demand for Meta’s AI stack and gives investors visibility on AI spend scale. CoreWeave's April Shockwave — Meta, Anthropic, Jane Street All Say Yes
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: TD Cowen reiterated a buy and assigned a high $820 price target, which can drive positive sentiment and flows into the stock. Meta Platforms NASDAQ: META Receives Buy Rating from TD Cowen
• Neutral Sentiment: Hardware pricing update: Meta will raise U.S. prices for Quest VR headsets to offset rising component costs — a margin/profitability mix impact that’s ambiguous for top‑line growth. Meta to raise Quest VR headset prices in US on rising component costs
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider sales: COO Javier Olivan sold shares under a pre‑arranged 10b5‑1 plan (disclosed SEC filing) — routine but noted by traders as liquidity/positioning data. SEC ownership filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Reputation/regulatory watch: Reports of AI‑generated fake influencer accounts across platforms (TikTok/Instagram/Facebook) add moderation and policy risk, but near‑term financial impact is uncertain. Hundreds of Fake Pro-Trump Avatars Emerge on Social Media
• Negative Sentiment: Major layoffs planned: Reuters reports Meta will cut roughly 10% of its global workforce (~8,000 jobs) in an initial wave targeted for May 20, with additional rounds later in 2026. That reduces near‑term operating costs but raises execution, morale and product roadmap risk; markets often react variably to large cuts. Exclusive: Meta targets May 20 for first wave of layoffs; additional cuts later in 2026
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory pressure in Europe: The European Commission is considering interim measures to force WhatsApp policy rollbacks that could limit how third‑party AI services access WhatsApp Business — a potential hit to monetization plans in a key market. European Action On WhatsApp AI Access Tests Meta’s Monetization Plans

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $688.55 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average is $627.49 and its 200-day moving average is $651.26. The stock has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.31. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month 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.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.

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.