Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Increases Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 374,044 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,700 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.8% of Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $274,690,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532,568 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after buying an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $37,902,948,000 after buying an additional 682,768 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $23,155,393,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,489,621 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,694,644,000 after acquiring an additional 262,550 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total value of $374,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,983,882. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $624.14, for a total transaction of $323,928.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 31,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,506,247.42. This trade represents a 1.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,738 shares of company stock worth $13,362,921. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.2%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $644.78 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $656.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $690.96. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.44, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The business had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $8.02 EPS. On average, equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid 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 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.94%.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Large NVIDIA multiyear AI deal — Meta agreed to buy millions of NVIDIA GPUs and to adopt NVIDIA CPUs and networking, strengthening its data‑center roadmap and making advanced, privacy‑safe AI features (e.g., WhatsApp agents) more feasible. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beats and AI ad efficiency — Meta’s Q4 results topped estimates and commentary credits AI-driven ad performance for revenue strength, supporting the bull case that AI investments will improve monetization. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Big investor activity leaning long — several hedge funds and notable managers (including recent 13F changes) have added to Meta positions, reinforcing conviction behind the AI thesis. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Product/AR ecosystem moves — reports that Meta is reviving a smartwatch and shifting Horizon Worlds toward mobile matter strategically but likely have limited near‑term revenue impact. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling by senior executives — filings show sizeable share sales by the COO and CFO (and a director), which can create short‑term supply pressure or be read as liquidity taking. Read More. and Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal & privacy overhang — CEO testimony in a landmark youth‑addiction trial and recent unsealed documents raising child safety/privacy questions create regulatory and reputational risk that could affect engagement and ad targeting. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Huge 2026 CapEx and margin risk — coverage highlights a ~$115–$135B capex plan tied to AI infrastructure; if monetization lags, margins and returns could be pressured. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $910.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up from $770.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $825.00 and gave the company an “overweight” 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $844.29.

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.