Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stake Increased by Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 680,825 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,449 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.6% of Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $499,984,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $30,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reported multiyear deal to rent Google’s TPU chips to accelerate model training — expands Meta’s compute capacity quickly without buying all hardware, supporting AI roadmap and ad/AI monetization prospects. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Deal with AMD for GPUs and plans for very large 2026 capex (reported commitments and nuclear power pacts) strengthen Meta’s in‑house training scale and long‑term AI competitiveness, which investors view as revenue‑accretive over time. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is trialing stablecoin payments across Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp, targeting faster payments and adoption in underbanked markets — a potential new revenue stream and higher engagement in emerging markets. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company sued advertisers over celebrity‑impersonation scams and took technical enforcement actions — a move to shore up ad quality and preserve advertiser trust. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI hired a high‑profile Meta AI researcher — talent movement highlights competition for AI engineers but is common across the sector and not unique to Meta. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/industry comparisons show Alphabet gaining share in AI‑fuelled search and investing aggressively — useful context for competitive positioning but not an immediate earnings event. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: EU court adviser sided with regulators in a dispute over antitrust data requests — raises regulatory/compliance risk and potential costs in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: High‑profile US trial testimony about social‑media harms and new Instagram parent‑alert policies keep litigation and reputational risk elevated, which can pressure sentiment and regulatory scrutiny. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales by CFO Susan Li (55,702 shares) and recent COO selling may be read negatively by some investors, adding near‑term selling pressure despite common non‑signal reasons for sales; SEC filing available. Read More.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $885.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Pivotal Research dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $930.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price target 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. Three investment 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 MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $844.44.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.3%

META stock opened at $648.18 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $655.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $685.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $8.02 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total value of $374,680.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,983,882. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have sold a total of 103,837 shares of company stock worth $66,356,760 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.