Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stock Position Trimmed by Westfield Capital Management Co. LP

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 767,657 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 90,745 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 2.4% of Westfield Capital Management Co. LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $563,752,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 453,235 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $332,847,000 after acquiring an additional 1,614 shares during the period. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the third quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 13,371 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,819,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 952,522 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $699,515,000 after purchasing an additional 25,912 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 9,769 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,174,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC now owns 6,242 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,584,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: News Corp signed a multiyear paid content‑licensing deal with Meta that can supply training and retrieval content for Meta’s AI tools — a direct revenue/licensing relationship that improves AI data quality and reduces legal/content risk. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is forming a new applied AI engineering organization (flat structure, large IC:manager ratios) to accelerate model development in partnership with its Superintelligence Lab — signals sustained R&D investment and faster AI product iteration. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Reuters/Bloomberg reports Meta is testing an AI‑powered shopping research tool for its chatbot, a potential new commerce revenue stream that could diversify monetization beyond ads. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional buyers continue to accumulate META even as executives sell, which investors interpret as conviction from long‑term funds — useful context but not an immediate fundamental change. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and outlets are re‑assessing Meta’s valuation after its multi‑year run; some view current multiples as reasonable given >20% revenue growth and strong margins — background for positioning rather than a catalyst. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader market volatility from geopolitical tensions is dragging tech stocks broadly and could pressure META episodically; this is a macro headwind, not company‑specific. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: CFO Susan Li sold 56,571 shares (~$36.5M) in a disclosed SEC filing. Large insider sales can spur short‑term selling even if executed under prearranged plans. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Facebook experienced outages affecting thousands of U.S. users (Downdetector), a transient engagement/reputation hit that could briefly impact ad impressions. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta scrapped its second‑generation Olympus AI accelerator highlight execution risks in custom silicon and likely increase reliance on external GPUs (Nvidia/AMD), with cost and supplier implications. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Argus restated a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price objective for the company. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $844.44.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $654.99 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $655.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $682.76. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $8.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total transaction of $1,574,473.97. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 12,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,746,335.16. This represents a 16.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total transaction of $5,106,100.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares in the company, valued at $1,793,352.84. This trade represents a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 159,372 shares of company stock valued at $102,164,393. Corporate 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.