Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by ICONIQ Capital LLC

ICONIQ Capital LLC trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 86.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,473 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 9,659 shares during the period. ICONIQ Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 64.8% in the third quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta is preparing to cut roughly 20% of its workforce pushed expectations for multi‑billion dollar annual cost savings and sparked a rally as investors priced in faster path to profitability. Meta shares jump after Reuters report on plans for layoffs of 20% or more
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan reiterated an Overweight rating and reiterated a high price target, providing institutional support for the stock amid the headlines. Analysts set Meta stock price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta signed a large multi‑year AI infrastructure agreement with Nebius (reported up to $27B) — it secures compute capacity critical for scaling AI but also confirms very large future spend commitments. Markets see this as strategic but capital‑intensive. Meta signs deal worth up to $27 billion with Nebius for AI infrastructure
• Neutral Sentiment: Several bullish analyst/strategy pieces argue the pullback is a buying opportunity given Meta’s scale, ad growth and AI monetization runway — providing counterweight to cost/CapEx concerns. Delays, Compute Deals, And Sky‑High CapEx: Why I’m Still Bullish On Meta
• Neutral Sentiment: Nebius and other cloud partners have seen strong share moves on the deal, highlighting that Meta’s AI commitments are reshaping the supplier landscape even if the direct near‑term benefit to Meta is mixed. Meta’s $27B AI Cloud Deal Sends Nebius Group Stock Soaring
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports flag surging AI spending, product delays (Avocado AI, smart glasses) and high CapEx plans — investors worry these investments could pressure margins and cash flow before monetization. Meta Reportedly Plans Job Cuts as AI Spending Surges
• Negative Sentiment: Advertiser pushback on a new Facebook/Instagram payment policy raises modest short‑term ad revenue execution risk if it leads to reduced spend from affected advertisers. Why some Facebook and Instagram advertisers are freaking out about a new payment policy
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/regulatory uncertainty — including EU debates over content‑detection rules — keeps policy risk on investors’ radars; outcomes could affect compliance costs and product implementations in Europe. EU fails to extend rules on child abuse content detection by online platforms

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.2%

NASDAQ:META opened at $627.45 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $652.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $676.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.70, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its 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 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 analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $8.02 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued 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 payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Three 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. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $844.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total transaction of $5,106,100.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,793,352.84. This trade represents a 74.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $634.94, for a total value of $587,954.44. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,187 shares in the company, valued at $9,642,833.78. This trade represents a 5.75% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 159,830 shares of company stock valued at $102,409,190. 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.