Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Decreases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 377,840 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 31,976 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.1% of Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $277,478,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1,285.4% in the third quarter. Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd now owns 85,784 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $62,998,000 after acquiring an additional 79,592 shares during the last quarter. Burk Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.1% in the third quarter. Burk Holdings LLC now owns 879 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $646,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 41.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capstone Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 3,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 38.6% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 37,004 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $25,711,000 after purchasing an additional 10,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 61,949 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $45,494,000 after purchasing an additional 2,372 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $785.00 to $820.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $910.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Argus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $844.44.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $644.86 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $654.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $680.69. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 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) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The company had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $8.02 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be given 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 is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square materially added META, making it ~11.4% of the fund — a high-profile institutional endorsement that can attract other funds and provide buying pressure. Bill Ackman’s Eyes Meta Platforms
• Positive Sentiment: AMD announced a multi‑year, gigawatt‑scale AI infrastructure partnership with Meta valued at over $100B, signaling Meta’s heavy, near‑term capex and commitment to build out AI data centers — positive for long‑term moats and AI roadmap execution. AMD Meta AI Deal Puts Valuation Gap
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple outlets report billionaires and hedge funds accumulating META, reflecting conviction that Meta is underpriced relative to its AI and ad-recovery prospects — this flows into demand and sentiment. Billionaires Are Loading Up
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage highlights Meta’s cheapness vs. the S&P and its AI ambitions (articles exploring $800 targets and comparative valuation). These narratives support longer‑term upside but are not immediate catalysts. Nvidia and Meta Platforms Are Now Cheaper
• Neutral Sentiment: Sheryl Sandberg joining the board of an AI data‑center company (Nscale) and large fundraising in the sector indicate expanding data‑center capacity and a growing ecosystem that indirectly benefits Meta’s AI ambitions. Impact is positive but indirect. The Former Coal Miner in the Middle of the A.I. Data Center Boom
• Negative Sentiment: Surging oil and energy prices are cited as a risk, raising operating and data‑center cooling costs; macro energy cost pressure could weigh on margins and act as a near‑term headwind. Surging Oil Prices Threaten NVIDIA, Amazon, and Meta

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 value of $36,471,323.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total transaction of $5,106,100.36. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,352.84. This represents a 74.01% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 160,410 shares of company stock worth $102,809,055. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.