Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stake Lowered by California State Teachers Retirement System

Key Points

• California State Teachers Retirement System reduced its Meta stake by 2.1%, selling 70,344 shares and retaining 3.29 million shares worth approximately $1.88 billion. Meta remains the fund’s ninth-largest holding and represents about 2% of its portfolio.
• Meta shares opened at $539.03 after an 8% decline, following quarterly earnings of $6.18 per share that missed the $7.19 consensus estimate. Revenue nevertheless rose 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding expectations.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $789.95, but concerns persist over Meta’s aggressive AI spending, rising infrastructure commitments and pressure on future margins.

California State Teachers Retirement System reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,291,945 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 70,344 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 2.0% of California State Teachers Retirement System's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.13% of Meta Platforms worth $1,883,420,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. RHL Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Bayban boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 100.0% during the first quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $800.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $725.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $780.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho set a $750.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $789.95.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 8.0%

NASDAQ:META opened at $539.03 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $602.23 and a 200 day moving average of $623.44. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.30, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 34.81%. The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $7.14 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding Wall Street expectations, while advertising demand, impressions, pricing and AI-powered recommendations remained strong. Instagram time spent also grew by double digits. META's Q2 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Rise Y/Y on Ad Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts retained bullish ratings despite reducing price targets. UBS, Baird, Citi, Truist and other firms still see substantial upside, suggesting the selloff may have improved Meta’s valuation appeal if advertising growth continues. Analyst price-target updates
• Positive Sentiment: Management said AI is improving ad performance, content recommendations and enterprise products, while new applications and potential AI-agent businesses could create additional monetization opportunities. META Q2 Earnings Call Highlights AI Expansion Strategy
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is exploring ways to lease or sell excess computing capacity, including possible enterprise AI opportunities. This could generate revenue from infrastructure investment, but the company must balance external sales with its own model-development needs. Zuckerberg lays out Meta's AI capacity dilemma
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings were $6.18 per share, well below estimates near $7.2 and down from $7.14 a year earlier. Legal expenses of about $2.4 billion and severance costs of roughly $1.2 billion contributed to the miss, but operating expenses also rose substantially.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta maintained an aggressive AI investment plan, forecasting 2026 capital expenditures of $130 billion to $145 billion. Operating cash flow of $31.9 billion was almost entirely consumed by capital spending, leaving approximately $784 million after capex. Meta Generated $31.9 Billion in Operating Cash Flow Last Quarter
• Negative Sentiment: Future lease obligations, largely tied to AI data centers, rose 53% in three months to $279 billion. Investors are questioning whether advertising growth and future AI services will generate adequate returns on this commitment. Meta's future AI data center lease obligations
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion was viewed as soft relative to the $63.2 billion consensus, reinforcing concerns that spending and margin pressure may persist. Reality Labs also posted a loss exceeding $4.6 billion.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s weakness contrasted with Microsoft’s strong Azure and Copilot results, which gave investors clearer evidence that AI spending is producing returns. This comparison intensified the market’s skepticism toward Meta’s less-defined AI monetization timeline. Meta tanks nearly 9%, Microsoft jumps 8% as the AI trade splits Big Tech

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total value of $508,770.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,823,376.50. This trade represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 39,325 shares of company stock valued at $23,979,087 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Company 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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