Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Sells 1,312,278 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms by 76.8%, selling 1,312,278 shares and now owning 397,416 shares, which represent about 1.1% of their total holdings.
• Several institutional investors, including GAMMA Investing LLC, increased their positions significantly, with GAMMA lifting its ownership by 67,172.9% during the first quarter.
• Meta Platforms reported earnings of $7.14 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations, and had a revenue of $47.52 billion, significantly up from the previous year.

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 76.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 397,416 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,312,278 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.1% of Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $229,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $10,184,163,000 after buying an additional 400,927 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $8,977,361,000 after buying an additional 1,255,546 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,007,308 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $7,030,399,000 after buying an additional 280,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,273,234 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,344,721,000 after buying an additional 229,717 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Barclays upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $810.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Scotiabank upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $920.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $783.00 to $811.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Zacks Research cut Meta Platforms from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of META stock opened at $752.30 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $738.68 and a 200-day moving average of $659.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 84,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. This represents a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 290,046 shares of company stock worth $218,812,787. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.

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