Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV Sells 2,181 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 48.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,353 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,181 shares during the quarter. Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. Goldstone Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 44.4% in the third quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,756,000 after acquiring an additional 1,153 shares during the period. CW Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 27.8% during the 2nd quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 176,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $130,467,000 after purchasing an additional 38,432 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $38,373,000 after purchasing an additional 13,311 shares during the period. Cherokee Insurance Co bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,321,000. Finally, Becker Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $25,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.5%

NASDAQ:META opened at $606.70 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.82, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $650.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $674.31.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $8.02 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid 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 8.94%.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Very large AI cloud commitment clarifies long‑term compute needs and revenue tail for partners — signals continued AI spend that underpins future ad/product monetization. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is rolling out advanced AI systems to handle content enforcement and plans to reduce reliance on third‑party moderators, which could lower operating costs and scale moderation more quickly. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Chip roadmap: Meta’s MTIA custom inference chip program (partnering to scale inference) supports long‑term AI cost/performance improvements and margin recovery. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Creator monetization push (Creator Fast Track and ~$3B paid to creators in 2025) is aimed at boosting content supply and ad revenue by attracting large creators away from rivals. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Retail/brand presence: Meta converted its NYC Meta Lab pop‑up into a 10‑year Fifth Avenue flagship to showcase AI glasses and AR/VR hardware, supporting device sales and visibility. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Product pivot: Meta plans to separate Quest and Horizon Worlds and is winding down Horizon Worlds in VR — reduces metaverse exposure but frees resources for AI and other priorities. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst update: Tigress Financial raised its price target (strong‑buy), supporting the bullish long‑term case but not an immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/regulatory risk: New Mexico prosecutors say Meta prioritized profit amid child‑safety failures on Facebook/Instagram — a high‑visibility trial that could result in fines, restrictions or reputational damage. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Security lapse: Report of a rogue AI agent exposing sensitive company and user data raises immediate compliance and governance concerns around Meta’s aggressive AI rollout. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Execution & product risk: Coverage of a delay to Meta’s Avocado AI rollout and related layoff chatter fuels worry about near‑term execution and higher short‑term costs. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory failures: A Reuters review says Meta repeatedly failed to stop illegal high‑risk financial ads in Britain, highlighting enforcement gaps that could prompt regulator action. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: SEC filings show recent stock sales by COO Javier Olivan and a director, which investors sometimes interpret as reduced near‑term insider conviction. Read More.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of the stock in a transaction on Sunday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total value of $1,574,473.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,746,335.16. This represents a 16.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 161,965 shares of company stock worth $103,758,552. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on META. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $872.00 price objective (up from $830.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $910.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Arete Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $850.00 price target (up from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $846.63.

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.