2,629 Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Sterling Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Sterling Capital Management reduced its Meta Platforms stake by 3.7%, selling 2,629 shares in the third quarter and retaining 68,950 shares valued at approximately $50 million.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of Meta’s outstanding shares, with several major investors—including State Street, Bank of America, and Amundi—increasing their positions.
• Meta recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, while analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $833.12.

Sterling Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,950 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,629 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.0% of Sterling Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Sterling Capital Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $50,001,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Corient Private Wealth LP increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 723.1% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 8,801,764 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $4,957,946,000 after acquiring an additional 7,732,446 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,948,486,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 92,033,963 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $51,841,811,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510,123 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 21,038,035 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $12,036,491,000 after purchasing an additional 2,673,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 18.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 11,858,972 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $6,784,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,815,017 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.2%

NASDAQ META opened at $612.49 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.88, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $779.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The business's fifty day moving average is $667.08 and its 200-day moving average is $632.53.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The social networking company reported $7.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.54 by $0.86. The company had revenue of $64.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 31.15% and a return on equity of 30.73%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 26.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $7.25 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.98 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 21st were given a $0.5250 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 21st. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 7.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $850.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. China Renaissance lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 31st. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $945.00 price target (down from $995.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Roth Capital dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $750.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $833.12.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta priced a $25 billion Class A common-stock offering and a $12.5 billion mandatory convertible preferred-stock offering, with proceeds earmarked for its artificial-intelligence infrastructure. The common offering reportedly attracted demand several times greater than the shares available, suggesting institutional interest in Meta’s AI strategy. Meta offering pricing
• Positive Sentiment: Nvidia plans to invest $3 billion in Meta and expand its partnership around Meta’s Muse AI assistant and models. The deal provides third-party validation for Meta’s AI ambitions and may help secure access to Nvidia hardware. Nvidia invests in Meta partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s core advertising business remains strong: ad impressions increased 10% year over year, average ad prices rose 14%, and AI improvements reportedly lifted app-ad conversions by 9.6%. Early adoption of Muse and new AI experiments such as Waddle World could create future commerce and subscription revenue. Meta AI risk and reward
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta delayed indefinitely the rollout of new commercial terms after publisher objections. The move could reduce near-term conflict but leaves unresolved questions about the company’s relationship with media organizations and use of publisher content. Meta delays commercial terms
• Negative Sentiment: The major concern is dilution: Meta is pursuing nearly $98 billion in equity financing, including new common and convertible preferred securities. Investors appear worried that the funding will reduce per-share value even if it finances long-term AI growth. Meta stock analysis and dilution
• Negative Sentiment: AI investment is weighing heavily on near-term financials. Capital expenditures reached $34.9 billion, producing negative free cash flow of $2.1 billion, while higher spending and legal costs pressured margins. This has led some analysts to downgrade the stock, despite revenue exceeding expectations. Meta AI spending downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Meta COO Javier Olivan sold shares worth approximately $1.0 million in two transactions. Both sales were executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing their significance as a signal of management’s outlook. SEC insider transaction filing

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 946 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $640.00, for a total value of $605,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 5,040 shares in the company, valued at $3,225,600. The trade was a 15.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 150,015 shares of company stock valued at $102,464,300 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc is a technology company that develops social networking, messaging, virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence products. The company's principal platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Threads, which enable users to connect, communicate, share content, and discover products and services.

Meta also operates Reality Labs, its division focused on virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies. Reality Labs develops products such as Meta Quest virtual reality headsets and related software and experiences, along with research and hardware intended to support immersive computing.

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