Griffith & Werner Inc. Invests $7.53 Million in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Griffith & Werner Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 10,256 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,532,000. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 4.0% of Griffith & Werner Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. Oakwell Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 169.2% in the third quarter. Oakwell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,076 shares in the last quarter. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the third quarter. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. now owns 30,509 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $22,405,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Fox Hill Wealth Management grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fox Hill Wealth Management now owns 8,315 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,106,000 after buying an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 14,495 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,645,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weik Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Weik Capital Management now owns 1,729 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,270,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $644.86 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $654.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $680.69. 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 cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $8.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.94%.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Closed multiyear AI/content and chip-supply deals that should improve model training quality and reduce sourcing risk — supports AI product road map and longer-term ad/engagement upside. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Signed paid content-licensing arrangements (reported coverage highlights a News Corp deal) and created a new applied-AI engineering organization to speed model development — both point to faster commercialization of AI features that can lift ad yields. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Prominent investors and some brokers continue to list META as a buy or top idea (e.g., inclusion on Bill Ackman-related lists and select upgrades), supporting demand from long-term investors. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Company presented at investor conferences and several sell‑side reports reiterated valuation/scale arguments — useful for analyst color but not an immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Wall Street downgrades and cut price targets citing concerns that Meta is “lagging on AI” — raises short-term growth and competition worries and likely contributed to intraday selling pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales disclosed: CFO Susan Li sold roughly $36.5M and COO Javier Olivan also executed significant sales — while often planned (tax/vesting), these filers increase headline risk and can create short-term supply. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and competition pressure in Europe and Indonesia — Meta agreed to allow rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp in Europe (for a fee) to head off EU action, and Indonesia issued warnings over disinformation and algorithm transparency, adding compliance and revenue uncertainty in key markets. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: 13F filings show several high‑profile managers trimmed or exited META in Q4 — signals profit‑taking and reduced conviction from some large investors. Read More.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $872.00 price objective (up from $830.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Arete Research reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up from $770.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $844.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $637.21, for a total transaction of $590,056.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 16,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,267,364.73. The trade was a 5.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 160,410 shares of company stock worth $102,809,055 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.