Rafferty Asset Management LLC Cuts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 253,278 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 17,114 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $186,002,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,212,506,000 after purchasing an additional 8,405,558 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $142,149,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532,568 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 948.7% during the third quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 1,243,577 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,124,998 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $637.21, for a total value of $590,056.46. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 16,113 shares in the company, valued at $10,267,364.73. This trade represents a 5.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 160,927 shares of company stock valued at $103,155,254 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Closed multiyear AI/content and chip-supply deals that should improve model training quality and reduce sourcing risk — supports AI product road map and longer-term ad/engagement upside. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Signed paid content-licensing arrangements (reported coverage highlights a News Corp deal) and created a new applied-AI engineering organization to speed model development — both point to faster commercialization of AI features that can lift ad yields. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Prominent investors and some brokers continue to list META as a buy or top idea (e.g., inclusion on Bill Ackman-related lists and select upgrades), supporting demand from long-term investors. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Company presented at investor conferences and several sell?side reports reiterated valuation/scale arguments — useful for analyst color but not an immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Wall Street downgrades and cut price targets citing concerns that Meta is “lagging on AI” — raises short-term growth and competition worries and likely contributed to intraday selling pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales disclosed: CFO Susan Li sold roughly $36.5M and COO Javier Olivan also executed significant sales — while often planned (tax/vesting), these filers increase headline risk and can create short-term supply. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and competition pressure in Europe and Indonesia — Meta agreed to allow rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp in Europe (for a fee) to head off EU action, and Indonesia issued warnings over disinformation and algorithm transparency, adding compliance and revenue uncertainty in key markets. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: 13F filings show several high?profile managers trimmed or exited META in Q4 — signals profit?taking and reduced conviction from some large investors. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several research reports. BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price target for the company. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $860.00 target price (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $849.00 to $856.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up from $770.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $844.44.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $644.86 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The firm has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $654.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $681.65. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $8.02 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.94%.

Meta Platforms 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.