Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Payden & Rygel

Payden & Rygel lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 16.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,810 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 4,700 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.5% of Payden & Rygel’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Payden & Rygel’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $17,486,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the 2nd quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $648.18 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $655.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $685.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.94%.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reported multiyear deal to rent Google’s TPU chips to accelerate model training — expands Meta’s compute capacity quickly without buying all hardware, supporting AI roadmap and ad/AI monetization prospects. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Deal with AMD for GPUs and plans for very large 2026 capex (reported commitments and nuclear power pacts) strengthen Meta’s in‑house training scale and long‑term AI competitiveness, which investors view as revenue‑accretive over time. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is trialing stablecoin payments across Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp, targeting faster payments and adoption in underbanked markets — a potential new revenue stream and higher engagement in emerging markets. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company sued advertisers over celebrity‑impersonation scams and took technical enforcement actions — a move to shore up ad quality and preserve advertiser trust. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI hired a high‑profile Meta AI researcher — talent movement highlights competition for AI engineers but is common across the sector and not unique to Meta. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/industry comparisons show Alphabet gaining share in AI‑fuelled search and investing aggressively — useful context for competitive positioning but not an immediate earnings event. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: EU court adviser sided with regulators in a dispute over antitrust data requests — raises regulatory/compliance risk and potential costs in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: High‑profile US trial testimony about social‑media harms and new Instagram parent‑alert policies keep litigation and reputational risk elevated, which can pressure sentiment and regulatory scrutiny. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales by CFO Susan Li (55,702 shares) and recent COO selling may be read negatively by some investors, adding near‑term selling pressure despite common non‑signal reasons for sales; SEC filing available. Read More.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 target price (up from $870.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $850.00 price target (up from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Three equities 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $844.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total value of $374,680.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,983,882. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,746,335.16. The trade was a 16.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 103,837 shares of company stock valued at $66,356,760 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.