Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by California State Teachers Retirement System

California State Teachers Retirement System cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,291,945 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 70,344 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.0% of California State Teachers Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,883,420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 422 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $241,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. RDST Capital LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 59.7% during the 1st quarter. RDST Capital LLC now owns 99,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $57,001,000 after acquiring an additional 37,225 shares during the period. ROI Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. ROI Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,991 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,139,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Regal Partners Ltd grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Regal Partners Ltd now owns 5,808 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,323,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eley Financial Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the first quarter. Eley Financial Management Inc now owns 2,809 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,646,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $539.03 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $520.26 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $1.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $602.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $623.44.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 34.81%. The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.4 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total value of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 39,325 shares of company stock worth $23,979,087 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding Wall Street expectations, while advertising demand, impressions, pricing and AI-powered recommendations remained strong. Instagram time spent also grew by double digits. META’s Q2 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Rise Y/Y on Ad Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts retained bullish ratings despite reducing price targets. UBS, Baird, Citi, Truist and other firms still see substantial upside, suggesting the selloff may have improved Meta’s valuation appeal if advertising growth continues. Analyst price-target updates
• Positive Sentiment: Management said AI is improving ad performance, content recommendations and enterprise products, while new applications and potential AI-agent businesses could create additional monetization opportunities. META Q2 Earnings Call Highlights AI Expansion Strategy
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is exploring ways to lease or sell excess computing capacity, including possible enterprise AI opportunities. This could generate revenue from infrastructure investment, but the company must balance external sales with its own model-development needs. Zuckerberg lays out Meta’s AI capacity dilemma
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings were $6.18 per share, well below estimates near $7.2 and down from $7.14 a year earlier. Legal expenses of about $2.4 billion and severance costs of roughly $1.2 billion contributed to the miss, but operating expenses also rose substantially.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta maintained an aggressive AI investment plan, forecasting 2026 capital expenditures of $130 billion to $145 billion. Operating cash flow of $31.9 billion was almost entirely consumed by capital spending, leaving approximately $784 million after capex. Meta Generated $31.9 Billion in Operating Cash Flow Last Quarter
• Negative Sentiment: Future lease obligations, largely tied to AI data centers, rose 53% in three months to $279 billion. Investors are questioning whether advertising growth and future AI services will generate adequate returns on this commitment. Meta’s future AI data center lease obligations
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion was viewed as soft relative to the $63.2 billion consensus, reinforcing concerns that spending and margin pressure may persist. Reality Labs also posted a loss exceeding $4.6 billion.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s weakness contrasted with Microsoft’s strong Azure and Copilot results, which gave investors clearer evidence that AI spending is producing returns. This comparison intensified the market’s skepticism toward Meta’s less-defined AI monetization timeline. Meta tanks nearly 9%, Microsoft jumps 8% as the AI trade splits Big Tech

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $1,015.00 to $883.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $750.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $770.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $789.95.

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.