Kercheville Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 22.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,634 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 3,910 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.3% of Kercheville Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Kercheville Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,680,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its position in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $69,502,379,000 after acquiring an additional 105,154,977 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 488.1% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,608,445,000 after purchasing an additional 4,537,076 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during 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. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 1,258 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $754,800.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 1,517 shares of the company's stock, valued at $910,200. The trade was a 45.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 1,559 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total value of $869,922.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,957 shares in the company, valued at $1,092,006. This trade represents a 44.34% 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 sold 34,957 shares of company stock worth $20,442,696. Insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings lowered Meta Platforms from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Benchmark reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Mizuho set a $750.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $785.22.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on META
Key Meta Platforms News
Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:
- Positive Sentiment: The settlement limits litigation risk by resolving claims from a broad coalition of states without an admission of liability. Analysts view the payment as manageable relative to Meta’s revenue and cash generation, while the company avoids potentially disruptive court-ordered changes to products such as Reels, Stories and its recommendation systems. Meta's social media settlement leaves its money machine unscathed
- Positive Sentiment: Meta’s advertising engine continues to benefit from improved ad-ranking technology and growing advertiser use of artificial intelligence to create campaigns, supporting demand even as the company spends heavily on AI infrastructure. Ca$htag$: Meta's AI Bet Not Showing Returns, Yet
- Positive Sentiment: Rosenblatt raised its price target to $886 and maintained a buy rating, pointing to substantial potential upside from current levels. The stock’s valuation also remains below that of many large technology peers, strengthening the bargain argument for some investors. Meta price target raised by Rosenblatt
- Neutral Sentiment: The new teen safeguards—including time limits, muted notifications and stronger parental controls—could become a regulatory template for TikTok, YouTube, Snap and international markets. This creates industrywide compliance costs, but may also give Meta greater legal clarity. Meta settlement puts social media industry on notice
- Negative Sentiment: Investors still face execution and financial risks: age-verification technology may be unreliable, critics say the protections do not address teen mental-health concerns, and regulators in the U.K., South Korea and elsewhere may demand similar measures. Restrictions could eventually reduce teen engagement and advertising opportunities. Meta's child-safety deal and age verification
- Negative Sentiment: Meta’s substantial AI capital spending has not yet produced a proportionate revenue payoff, while an executive overseeing India and Southeast Asia is leaving for OpenAI. Those developments add to concerns about returns on investment and management stability. Meta executive leaves for OpenAI
Meta Platforms Price Performance
Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $578.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.25. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $592.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $611.61. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $790.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). The business had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $7.14 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
Further Reading
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding META? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report).
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