Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $515.67 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Retirement Systems of Alabama trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 702,186 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,206 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.7% of Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $515,671,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd grew its position in Meta Platforms by 294.7% during the first quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $86,454,000 after buying an additional 112,000 shares during the period. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Finally, Hamilton Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.3% during the second quarter. Hamilton Capital Partners LLC now owns 24,760 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,275,000 after buying an additional 1,473 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, December 29th. Oppenheimer cut Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $848.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total value of $341,860.11. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 28,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,876,738.02. The trade was a 1.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.28, for a total value of $358,602.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,587 shares in the company, valued at $3,454,330.36. This represents a 9.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,077 shares of company stock worth $23,955,958. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street has been upgrading Meta and lifting price targets after the company’s strong Q4 print and exceptionally strong Q1 revenue guide, supporting upside expectations. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Several brokerages reiterated/raised ratings — examples include Cantor Fitzgerald bumping its target to $860 and Barclays keeping an Overweight — reinforcing the buy-side view that fundamentals and ad recovery justify higher multiples. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/tech headlines around AI capex are creating mixed market reactions: Meta’s AI investments and infrastructure plans underpin growth but also increase near-term spending volatility; that ambiguity is tempering momentum. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is locking in off-grid power for hyperscale data needs (reported prepayment/agreements with SMR developers), which secures energy for AI workloads but implies long-dated infrastructure commitments. This is strategic but capital-intensive. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts and commentators warn that AI capex and Reality Labs spending are rising quickly; several notes caution that mounting expenses could compress margins if revenue acceleration slows. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk: India’s top court questioned WhatsApp’s data-sharing with Meta entities and warned a ban could be reimposed — a tangible legal/regulatory headwind in a major market. Read More.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of META opened at $691.70 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $655.04 and its 200 day moving average is $695.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

About Meta Platforms

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.