Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Purchases 9,646 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 374,237 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 9,646 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.7% of Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $214,112,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Keybank National Association OH increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $88,319,000 after acquiring an additional 18,169 shares during the last quarter. WMS Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $876,000. Diversified Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,487,000 after acquiring an additional 3,336 shares during the last quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $646.01 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $520.26 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a 50 day moving average of $603.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $627.00. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.43 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total value of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $251,641.62. The trade was a 94.99% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders sold 39,503 shares of company stock valued at $24,241,859. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is reportedly in early talks to lease computing power to Anthropic in a potential deal worth up to $10 billion. Investors view that as a possible new revenue stream that would help Meta monetize its AI infrastructure and validate demand for its computing capacity. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Meta also unveiled its newest AI model, Muse Spark 1.1, and the company is reportedly considering a broader cloud push. Together, those moves reinforce the idea that Meta can turn heavy AI spending into products and services that generate returns. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Meta’s earnings outlook, with Erste Group raising its FY2027 EPS estimate and maintaining a Buy rating. That adds to the bullish case heading into the next earnings report. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: A federal judge declined to block Meta from laying off workers who filed an AI discrimination lawsuit. The ruling removes an immediate legal obstacle, but the underlying claims over alleged bias in AI-driven job cuts still create headline risk. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is also facing scrutiny from employees over AI-assisted layoffs, with allegations that its tools discriminated against protected groups. That could keep legal and reputational pressure on the stock. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Benchmark initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Susquehanna upgraded Meta Platforms from a “positive” rating to a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $830.45.

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.