Mizuho Markets Cayman LP Invests $132.72 Million in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Mizuho Markets Cayman LP bought 180,721 shares of Meta (~$132.72 million) in Q3, making META its sixth-largest holding at about 6.7% of the fund's portfolio.
• Meta beat quarterly expectations with $8.88 EPS vs. $8.16 expected and revenue of $59.89 billion (up 23.8% YoY), and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 ($2.10 annualized, 0.3% yield).
• Near-term risks include large AI infrastructure commitments (reports of deals up to ~$27B), potential workforce cuts and regulatory scrutiny, while insiders have sold roughly 159,830 shares (~$102.4 million) in the past 90 days.

Mizuho Markets Cayman LP purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 180,721 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $132,718,000. Meta Platforms comprises 6.7% of Mizuho Markets Cayman LP's holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $44,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Evergreen Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 64.8% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $622.66 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $651.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $675.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $8.02 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $835.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 26th. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $800.00 price target for the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $844.44.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Global user engagement is rising — Meta reported ~17% higher total time spent year‑over‑year across its platforms, which supports ad monetization and long‑term revenue growth. InsiderMonkey: User Engagement
• Positive Sentiment: Meta unveiled four MTIA custom AI chips and explicitly confirmed the Broadcom (AVGO) partnership — a move that helps scale inference workloads efficiently and could improve unit economics as GenAI inference rolls out. Meta AI blog: MTIA chips
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and buy‑the‑dip voices remain mixed but constructive — several pieces argue fundamentals (mid‑20% revenue growth last year, high margins) justify buying on weakness; JPMorgan reiterated an Overweight with a high target. Fool: Buy on pullback Finbold: JPMorgan target
• Neutral Sentiment: Smaller partner news (MONAT integration) expands social‑commerce use cases but is unlikely to move Meta’s top‑line materially in the near term. GlobeNewswire: MONAT integration
• Negative Sentiment: Huge AI infrastructure commitments — public reports show Meta has signed supply agreements (up to ~$27B with Nebius and large third‑party commitments) and is planning very large AI‑related CapEx — raising near‑term cash and margin pressure perceptions. CNBC: $27B Nebius deal
• Negative Sentiment: Layoff reports and related uncertainty — multiple outlets cite that Meta is considering cuts up to ~20% of staff to offset AI costs; that spurs short‑term volatility even if intended to improve long‑term efficiency. Reuters: Layoff report CNET: Workforce/AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and execution risks — reports of delays in Meta’s latest AI model and heightened scrutiny (e.g., China probing the Manus acquisition) increase downside risk and geopolitical/regulatory uncertainty. NYTimes: China scrutiny Fool: AI model delay

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total value of $5,106,100.36. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,841 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,793,352.84. This represents a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 159,830 shares of company stock worth $102,409,190 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.61% 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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