Vest Financial LLC Acquires 10,140 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 107,615 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,140 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.9% of Vest Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $71,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 36.8% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 78 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, PMV Capital Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 26.3% in the 4th quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 96 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on META shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $760.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.31.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remain bullish on Meta Platforms, with recent notes from firms like BofA and Erste Group lifting earnings estimates or price targets after strong Q1 results, reinforcing expectations for meaningful upside. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s AI push is drawing attention as the company reportedly works on AI agents and improved models like Muse Spark, which could support new products and future monetization opportunities. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary pieces continue to frame Meta as an important AI and large-cap tech name, but these are mostly opinion-driven and do not add new fundamental information for the stock. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta was also mentioned in a deal roundup about acquiring Assured Robot Intelligence, but the report provided little detail, so the market impact is unclear. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reports highlighting employee dissatisfaction and impending layoffs suggest Meta’s AI transformation is creating internal friction, while also reminding investors that the company’s AI ambitions come with higher costs. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern remains centered on Meta’s enormous 2026 capex plan, estimated at $125 billion to $145 billion, which is fueling fears that profitability could come under pressure before AI investments pay off. Article Title

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.2%

META opened at $609.63 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $627.67 and its 200-day moving average is $645.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.16, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $6.43 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.63%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 3,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,565,949. The trade was a 13.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.74, for a total transaction of $562,767.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 7,779 shares in the company, valued at $4,727,609.46. This trade represents a 10.64% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 168,193 shares of company stock worth $107,642,717. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.