Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stake Lessened by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 904,170 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,902 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.7% of Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $517,303,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,734,628,000 after purchasing an additional 878,396 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,112,735,000 after purchasing an additional 310,947 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on META. Citizens Jmp lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Benchmark initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $1,015.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $835.64.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect Meta’s advertising business to benefit from higher impressions, stronger user engagement and AI-powered ad targeting. Consensus expectations call for approximately $60.2 billion in revenue and $7.18 in earnings per share, while traders anticipate a sizable post-earnings move. Will Higher Ad Revenues Aid Meta Platforms Stock in Q2 Earnings?
• Positive Sentiment: Guggenheim reaffirmed its buy rating and assigned an $800 price target, implying substantial upside from recent levels. Meta’s comparatively modest valuation and history of earnings beats could support the shares if results and guidance exceed expectations. Guggenheim rating report
• Positive Sentiment: Meta and BlackRock formed an approximately $14 billion venture to develop a one-gigawatt AI data-center campus in El Paso, Texas. The 80/20 structure brings outside capital into Meta’s infrastructure expansion and may reduce near-term balance-sheet pressure while securing future computing capacity. Meta, BlackRock partner on $14 billion El Paso data center
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is expected to emphasize Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and its broader AI strategy on the earnings call. It also joined Nvidia, Alphabet and OpenAI in supporting open-weight AI models, potentially influencing future product development and regulation. Meta likely to highlight smart glasses
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are increasingly concerned that AI capital expenditures—potentially reaching $125 billion to $145 billion—will compress margins and weaken free cash flow before Meta develops a direct AI revenue stream. Alphabet’s higher spending forecast has intensified skepticism toward hyperscaler stocks. Hyperscalers face higher capex scrutiny
• Negative Sentiment: Meta faces ongoing lawsuits alleging harm to teenagers and inadequate safeguards against abuse on its platforms, creating potential financial liabilities and reputational damage. COO Javier Olivan also sold shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, although insider selling is not necessarily a bearish signal. Meta disregarded its own research on teen harm

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of Meta Platforms 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $645.85, for a total transaction of $540,576.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 7,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,602,972.95. This represents a 10.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 37,859 shares of company stock valued at $23,087,979. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ META opened at $593.41 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $603.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $624.67. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The company’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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.