Holocene Advisors LP Grows Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Holocene Advisors LP increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 135.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 926,348 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 533,076 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.6% of Holocene Advisors LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Holocene Advisors LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $680,291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 64.8% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $850.00 price objective (up from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $844.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total value of $1,574,473.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,108 shares in the company, valued at $7,746,335.16. The trade was a 16.89% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 159,830 shares of company stock valued at $102,409,190 in the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $627.45 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The company has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $652.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $676.01.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.94%.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta is preparing to cut roughly 20% of its workforce pushed expectations for multi‑billion dollar annual cost savings and sparked a rally as investors priced in faster path to profitability. Meta shares jump after Reuters report on plans for layoffs of 20% or more
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan reiterated an Overweight rating and reiterated a high price target, providing institutional support for the stock amid the headlines. Analysts set Meta stock price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta signed a large multi‑year AI infrastructure agreement with Nebius (reported up to $27B) — it secures compute capacity critical for scaling AI but also confirms very large future spend commitments. Markets see this as strategic but capital‑intensive. Meta signs deal worth up to $27 billion with Nebius for AI infrastructure
• Neutral Sentiment: Several bullish analyst/strategy pieces argue the pullback is a buying opportunity given Meta’s scale, ad growth and AI monetization runway — providing counterweight to cost/CapEx concerns. Delays, Compute Deals, And Sky‑High CapEx: Why I’m Still Bullish On Meta
• Neutral Sentiment: Nebius and other cloud partners have seen strong share moves on the deal, highlighting that Meta’s AI commitments are reshaping the supplier landscape even if the direct near‑term benefit to Meta is mixed. Meta’s $27B AI Cloud Deal Sends Nebius Group Stock Soaring
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports flag surging AI spending, product delays (Avocado AI, smart glasses) and high CapEx plans — investors worry these investments could pressure margins and cash flow before monetization. Meta Reportedly Plans Job Cuts as AI Spending Surges
• Negative Sentiment: Advertiser pushback on a new Facebook/Instagram payment policy raises modest short‑term ad revenue execution risk if it leads to reduced spend from affected advertisers. Why some Facebook and Instagram advertisers are freaking out about a new payment policy
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/regulatory uncertainty — including EU debates over content‑detection rules — keeps policy risk on investors’ radars; outcomes could affect compliance costs and product implementations in Europe. EU fails to extend rules on child abuse content detection by online platforms

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.