The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Boosts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 17.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,017,628 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 437,541 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.5% of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.12% of Meta Platforms worth $1,726,379,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $69,502,379,000 after buying an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 488.1% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,608,445,000 after acquiring an additional 4,537,076 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,963,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,395,763 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on META shares. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Arete Research set a $735.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $800.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Three equities research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $789.95.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $539.03 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $602.23 and its 200-day moving average is $623.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.30, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

More Meta Platforms News

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

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total value of $303,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. The trade was a 12.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total transaction of $508,770.45. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 6,290 shares in the company, valued at $3,823,376.50. The trade was a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 39,325 shares of company stock valued at $23,979,087 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.53% 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.