Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,292 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.1% of Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $18,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Goldstone Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 44.4% in the third quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,756,000 after purchasing an additional 1,153 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 34.2% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $38,373,000 after purchasing an additional 13,311 shares during the period. Becker Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.0% in the third quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $25,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,487,000 after purchasing an additional 3,336 shares during the period. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 16.2% in the third quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 6,933 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,091,000 after purchasing an additional 968 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of research firms recently issued reports on META. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $810.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $856.00 to $765.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Evercore boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Four investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $837.09.
Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms
Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:
- Positive Sentiment: UBS raised its price target on META to $908, citing stronger GenAI-driven ad revenue potential and reaffirming a bullish view on the stock. UBS Hikes Meta Platforms’ Target From $872 to $908
- Positive Sentiment: Citizens JMP reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating with a ~$900 target, another analyst endorsement supporting upside expectations. Citizens Jmp rating reaffirmation
- Positive Sentiment: Broadcom extended its AI partnership with Meta through 2029, signaling longer-term infrastructure support and reduced single-vendor risk for Meta’s AI buildout. Broadcom & Meta Extend AI Pact Into 2029
- Positive Sentiment: Meta broke ground on a >$1B data center in Tulsa and reserved up to 1 GW / 100 GWh of long-duration energy storage with Noon Energy — both moves underline heavy capex toward AI compute and resilience. Meta breaks ground on over $1 billion data center in Oklahoma’s Tulsa Noon Energy and Meta energy storage agreement
- Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and previews point to a high?expectation Q1 print (guidance implies ~30%+ revenue growth); earnings on Apr 29 and guidance will be market catalysts but results are not yet known. Meta Q1 Earnings Preview
- Neutral Sentiment: Bank of America trimmed its price target to $820 but kept a Buy rating — a mixed signal: still constructive but slightly less aggressive than other shops. BofA trims Meta Platforms price target
- Neutral Sentiment: Insider activity: a Meta director sold about $387k of stock — a small single sale that warrants noting but is not a major red flag by itself. Director stock sale
- Negative Sentiment: A consumer?advocacy group filed a class-action complaint alleging Meta profited from scam ads and misled users about enforcement — renewed legal and regulatory risk that can pressure multiples and lead to costs. Consumer watchdog group files suit alleging Meta profited on ads for scams
- Negative Sentiment: Separate press coverage (Wired) underscores lawsuits over scam ads on Facebook/Instagram, amplifying reputational and litigation concerns. Meta Is Sued Over Scam Ads
- Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta will track employee keystrokes to train AI and preparations for layoffs (reported May 20 planning) raise privacy and morale risks that could attract negative attention and regulatory scrutiny. Meta to track employee keystrokes to train AI Meta Prepares for “May 20” Layoffs
Meta Platforms Price Performance
Shares of META stock opened at $668.84 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $627.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $650.10. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $486.36 and a twelve month high of $796.25.
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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The business had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the firm earned $8.02 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.94%.
Insider Activity
In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,352.84. This trade represents a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 164,562 shares of company stock worth $105,310,238. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
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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