Jones Financial Companies Lllp Boosts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 15.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 421,626 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 54,977 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $313,122,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Allied Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 106.9% during the third quarter. Allied Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $813,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. Howard Bailey Securities LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Bailey Securities LLC now owns 920 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $676,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. A4 Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,380,000. Atlatl Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,702,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 372,233 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $276,718,000 after purchasing an additional 38,448 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of META stock opened at $670.72 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $657.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $694.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.54, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $8.02 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of the business’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 $4,190,037.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 88,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,857,980.20. The trade was a 7.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total transaction of $365,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,347 shares in the company, valued at $4,476,894.45. This represents a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 38,561 shares of company stock worth $23,673,584. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up from $770.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $872.00 price objective (up previously from $830.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $900.00 price objective (up from $870.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $845.50.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: High-profile bullish commentary: Jim Cramer publicly called META a buy, reinforcing retail and momentum interest in the name and supporting short-term demand. Jim Cramer on Meta Platforms (META): “I just think this one’s a buy”
• Positive Sentiment: Long-term AI investment thesis: A Seeking Alpha piece highlights aggressive AI capex and forecasts 22–31% near-term revenue growth, arguing Meta can sustain growth despite margin pressure — a supportive fundamental narrative for investors focused on multi-year returns. Meta Platforms: Follow The Numbers
• Positive Sentiment: Ad tools & ad revenue durability: A new free Meta Ads Rolling Reach Report for e-commerce advertisers could help optimize campaigns and demonstrate continued advertiser demand for Meta’s platforms. Incremental ad product adoption supports the advertising revenue outlook. growthzacks Releases Meta Ads Rolling Reach Report Generator for ECommerce Advertisers to Measure Audience Saturation
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/shopper endorsements: Recent retail and analyst write-ups (e.g., The Motley Fool) continue to feature META as a top growth pick, backing investor interest and buy-side conviction. 1 Top Growth Stock to Buy in February
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation/peer comparisons: Pieces comparing Broadcom and Meta highlight AI exposure but present them as different risk/reward profiles; useful for allocation decisions but not an immediate catalyst. Broadcom or Meta Platforms? Which Is the Better Buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Market context: Broader AI-led rotation and macro commentary (Zacks, market note) are lifting tech sentiment generally; Meta participates in that theme but is also idiosyncratically exposed to legal/regulatory news. Bulls Take Control Amid New AI Spending & Expanding Breadth
• Negative Sentiment: Alarming internal findings made public: Unsealed documents report a Meta researcher warned of up to 500,000 daily child exploitation cases on Facebook/Instagram — a reputational and litigation risk that can amplify regulatory scrutiny and attract settlement/penalty concerns. Meta researcher warned of 500K child exploitation cases daily on Facebook and Instagram platforms
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory pressure in EU over WhatsApp AI policy: The European Commission has charged Meta with breaching antitrust rules and threatened interim measures to force WhatsApp access for rival AI assistants — potential changes could limit product control and create compliance costs. EU threatens Meta with interim measure for blocking AI rivals from WhatsApp
• Negative Sentiment: Legal setbacks and trials: Landmark US trials accuse Meta of designing addictive products; separately, a German court ordered Meta’s Edge Network to pay Deutsche Telekom ~€30M — legal exposure and adverse rulings increase uncertainty and headline risk. Meta subsidiary loses appeal against Deutsche Telekom over network services Meta and YouTube Created ‘Digital Casinos,’ Lawyers Argue in Landmark Trial

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.