Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Chicago Capital LLC

Key Points

• Chicago Capital LLC trimmed its Meta stake by 1.9% in Q4, selling 5,579 shares and ending the period with 286,475 shares worth $189.1 million, making Meta ~4.7% of the fund and its second-largest holding.
• Company insiders — including a director and the COO — executed sales under Rule 10b5‑1 plans, with insiders selling 165,600 shares (~$106.0M) over the last quarter while insiders still own 13.61% of the stock.
• Meta reported strong results (Q EPS $8.88 vs. $8.16 est.; revenue $59.89B, +23.8% YoY) and has moved aggressively on AI — signing a multiyear AWS Graviton5 deal and announcing ~10% workforce cuts and hiring freezes — developments that have prompted analyst upgrades and an average target near $837 (Moderate Buy).

Chicago Capital LLC trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 286,475 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 5,579 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 4.7% of Chicago Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Chicago Capital LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $189,099,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management now owns 4,301 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,159,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 454 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $794,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JGP Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,274 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,653,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $675.50 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The company's 50-day moving average is $628.34 and its 200 day moving average is $649.13. The company has a market capitalization of $1.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business 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 business posted $8.02 EPS. The company's revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of several research reports. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $805.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $837.09.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta signed a multiyear, multibillion-dollar agreement to deploy tens of millions of AWS Graviton5 cores to power its agentic AI workloads — investors view this as a scalable, cost-efficient way to boost AI capacity and cut future capex risk. Meta strikes deal with Amazon's cloud unit to use its CPU chips
• Positive Sentiment: Management announced plans to cut ~10% of the workforce (~8,000 roles) and freeze hiring for ~6,000 openings to "run more efficiently" and offset AI investments — a move markets often reward when paired with heavy AI capex. Meta will cut 10% of workforce as it pushes more into AI
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support and buy-side interest (price-target upgrades and bullish notes on AI-driven ad monetization) are reinforcing the upside narrative around revenue and margins. Guggenheim reaffirms buy and sets $850 target
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider sales by the COO were disclosed (executed under a Rule 10b5‑1 plan) — routine but noted by traders watching insider activity. SEC filing: Javier Olivan insider sales
• Negative Sentiment: Staff reactions describe weeks of limbo and morale damage ("28 days of hell") ahead of the May cuts, raising execution and product-risk concerns if key teams are disrupted. Meta employees react to pending job cuts
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta is tracking employee keystrokes and web usage to train AI models raise privacy/ethical questions and potential regulatory scrutiny that could create reputational or legal costs. Meta is tracking employee usage for AI training
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing legal/ESG pressures (court rulings, shareholder proposals on human rights and AI energy/climate impacts) remain a medium-term headwind for sentiment and could spur additional disclosures or costs. Meta faces new ESG pressures

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $667.00, for a total transaction of $386,860.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,565,949. This trade represents a 13.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.09, for a total transaction of $629,763.34. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,549,946.79. The trade was a 8.77% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 165,600 shares of company stock worth $106,023,973. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.

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