Legacy Private Trust Co. Purchases 1,064 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Legacy Private Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,576 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,064 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.9% of Legacy Private Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Legacy Private Trust Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $14,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Goldstone Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 44.4% in the 3rd quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,756,000 after acquiring an additional 1,153 shares during the period. CW Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 27.8% during the 2nd quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 176,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $130,467,000 after purchasing an additional 38,432 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 34.2% during the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $38,373,000 after purchasing an additional 13,311 shares during the period. Becker Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the third quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $25,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657 shares during the period. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on META. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $785.00 to $820.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $846.63.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $592.92 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $647.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $670.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $8.02 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 12,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,746,335.16. The trade was a 16.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 160,929 shares of company stock worth $103,074,540 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: CTO Andrew Bosworth will lead Meta’s “AI for Work” initiatives, signaling a top-down push to embed AI across operations that could improve productivity and long-term margins. Meta Names New Leader of Company’s Efforts To Become AI Native
• Positive Sentiment: Meta hired the Dreamer team to scale personalized AI agents, strengthening its talent and product roadmap for agentic AI — a strategic move that supports future ad/product monetization. Meta Recruits Dreamer Team to Scale Personalized AI Agents
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is building in-house AI infrastructure (custom MTIA chips and optical interconnect work) to lower long-term AI costs and secure supply — a step that could expand gross margins as GenAI demand grows. Meta’s Custom AI Chips And Optical Links Reframe Long Term Margins
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group upgraded META to Buy, citing AI investments and pricing power — a supportive analyst signal that may attract some buyers despite near-term volatility. Erste Group Upgrades Meta (META) to Buy, Highlights the Company’s AI Investments
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is experimenting with internal CEO/exec AI agents and paying creators to boost engagement — these are strategic experiments that could help product engagement but are not guaranteed to move near-term revenue. Meta Will Pay Influencers Up to $3,000/Month to Post on Facebook
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short-interest figures in the feed appear inconsistent/zero and are not providing clear bearish pressure today (data unreliable).
• Negative Sentiment: A New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million after finding the company misled consumers and failed to protect minors from predators — a significant legal loss that raises potential damages exposure, regulatory scrutiny and reputational risk; a separate Los Angeles trial remains unresolved and could add further liability. Meta Ordered to Pay $375 Million Over Child Safety Violations
• Negative Sentiment: Additional legal pressure: a lawsuit alleges Meta targeted older workers in layoffs — another potential litigation headline that can add to near-term uncertainty. Lawsuit Claims Meta Platforms Targeted Older Workers in Layoffs

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.