Main Street Research LLC Cuts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Main Street Research LLC cut its Meta Platforms stake by 18% in the first quarter, selling 15,585 shares and leaving it with 70,962 shares valued at about $40.6 million.
• Meta continues to attract heavy institutional ownership, with major holders like Vanguard, State Street, and Geode all reporting large positions; overall, institutions own 79.91% of the stock.
• Analysts remain mostly positive on META, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $835.90, even as some firms trimmed targets or issued more cautious ratings.

Main Street Research LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 18.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 70,962 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 15,585 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.4% of Main Street Research LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Main Street Research LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $40,600,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in 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 buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the 4th 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 lifted its position 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 valued at $34,734,628,000 after purchasing an additional 878,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its position 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 valued at $26,112,735,000 after purchasing an additional 310,947 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Arete Research set a $735.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $810.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, June 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $725.00 price target (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $835.90.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $661.04 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50 day moving average of $600.12 and a 200 day moving average of $626.76. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released 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 business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $6.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.63%.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s upcoming Q2 earnings release on July 29 should provide a fresh read on revenue growth, profitability, and the payoff from its AI investments. Meta to Announce Second Quarter 2026 Results
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and media continue to debate Meta’s valuation and long-term AI strategy, with some arguing the stock remains attractive while others say spending is getting ahead of near-term returns. Meta Platforms is Overvalued at 5.92X PS: Buy, Sell or Hold the Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Meta faces a lawsuit alleging its AI-based layoff process discriminated against employees on approved leave, which could add legal costs and hurt investor sentiment around its AI deployment practices. Meta used AI to target workers with medical conditions for layoffs, former employees' lawsuit claims

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the director directly owned 3,443 shares in the company, valued at $2,092,483.25. This trade represents a 12.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,503 shares of company stock valued at $24,241,859. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

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.

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