Meta Platforms, Inc. $META is Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s 6th Largest Position
by Sarita Garza · The Markets DailyMitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 4.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,451,975 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 170,979 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 2.4% of Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 0.18% of Meta Platforms worth $3,269,441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $44,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 64.8% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
META opened at $654.99 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $655.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $682.76. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $8.02 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.94%.
Meta Platforms News Summary
Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Multiyear content-licensing agreement with News Corp provides paid training data and retrieval content for Meta’s AI tools, likely supporting AI product quality and potential revenue/licensing synergies. News Corp licensing deal
- Positive Sentiment: Meta is testing an AI-powered shopping research tool for its chatbot — a direct product push into commerce via AI that could expand monetization channels beyond ads. AI shopping tool test
- Positive Sentiment: Company is creating a new applied AI engineering org (flat structure, high IC:manager ratios) to speed up its superintelligence / Reality Labs AI work — signals continued R&D investment that supports long-term AI roadmap. Applied AI org
- Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and outlets are reassessing Meta’s valuation after a strong multi‑year run; some analyses describe the stock as reasonably priced given scale and profit margins — useful context for investors but not an immediate catalyst. Valuation analysis
- Neutral Sentiment: Marketwide volatility (geopolitical tensions) is weighing on tech names broadly and could pressure META alongside peers; this is a macro headwind rather than company-specific news. Macro risk note
- Negative Sentiment: CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares (~$36.5M) under a disclosed SEC filing; large insider sales can cause short-term investor concern even if executed via pre-set plans. SEC filing – insider sale
- Negative Sentiment: Facebook experienced outages for thousands of U.S. users (Downdetector reports), a short-term engagement/reputation hit that could transiently pressure ad impressions and sentiment. Outage report
- Negative Sentiment: Reports say Meta scrapped its second‑generation Olympus AI accelerator program, highlighting execution risks in custom silicon and likely increasing dependence on external GPU suppliers (Nvidia/AMD) — strategic cost/partner implications. Chip program pullback
Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms
In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $652.68, for a total transaction of $604,381.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 17,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,121,014.52. This trade represents a 5.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 159,372 shares of company stock valued at $102,164,393 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
META has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $872.00 target price (up from $830.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Roth Mkm cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $785.00 to $820.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Three investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $844.44.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Meta Platforms
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.
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