Meta Platforms, Inc. $META is Hamilton Capital Partners LLC’s 9th Largest Position

Hamilton Capital Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,737 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,023 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 6.1% of Hamilton Capital Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Hamilton Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,963,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,212,506,000 after buying an additional 8,405,558 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted 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 worth $64,158,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,650,435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,532,568 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta agreed to acquire Manus, a Singapore-based agentic AI startup (reported ~ $2B). Investors view the deal as a direct bolt-on for Meta’s agent/automation strategy, accelerating product integration across Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp and adding millions of paying users. Meta to acquire Chinese startup Manus to boost advanced AI features
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains constructive: multiple buy ratings and rising price targets (e.g., Rosenblatt reaffirmed buy with a $1,117 PT), reinforcing confidence that Meta’s heavy AI spending could pay off long term. Benzinga
• Neutral Sentiment: Debate over AI capex continues — investors accept higher near-term spending for models/data centers, but that capex remains a watch item for margins and free cash flow. Coverage and options commentary highlight both opportunity and short-term volatility. Buy Stock in the Mag 7 hypsercalers — AI spending debate
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: COO Javier Oliván and Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Newstead reported sales of ~517 and ~519 shares respectively in late December — the disclosures add near-term headline pressure even though sizes are small relative to holdings. Olivan SEC filing Newstead SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk: the U.S. Virgin Islands sued Meta, alleging the company profited from scam ads and failed to protect children — litigation could create regulatory and reputational pressure. Meta is sued by US Virgin Islands over ads for scams, dangers to children
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical/regulatory scrutiny: Manus’s founders’ China ties have already drawn attention in Washington — that could slow integrations or trigger extra review, increasing execution risk. Meta snaps up AI startup Manus for $2B, drawing scrutiny over Chinese roots

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $825.00 price target (down previously from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $820.22.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $665.96 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $652.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $706.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $6.03 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.28%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total transaction of $6,935,793.90. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,432,843.65. This represents a 82.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,610 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total transaction of $1,590,690.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,962,956.64. The trade was a 21.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 42,074 shares of company stock worth $26,269,739 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.