Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Has $293.30 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC cut its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 399,390 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 13,504 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.1% of Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $293,304,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,793,352.84. This trade represents a 74.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.68, for a total value of $604,381.68. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 17,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,121,014.52. This represents a 5.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 103,837 shares of company stock valued at $66,356,760 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of META stock opened at $648.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $655.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $685.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The business had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $8.02 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $785.00 to $820.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $844.44.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reported multiyear deal to rent Google’s TPU chips to accelerate model training — expands Meta’s compute capacity quickly without buying all hardware, supporting AI roadmap and ad/AI monetization prospects. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Deal with AMD for GPUs and plans for very large 2026 capex (reported commitments and nuclear power pacts) strengthen Meta’s in‑house training scale and long‑term AI competitiveness, which investors view as revenue‑accretive over time. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is trialing stablecoin payments across Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp, targeting faster payments and adoption in underbanked markets — a potential new revenue stream and higher engagement in emerging markets. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company sued advertisers over celebrity‑impersonation scams and took technical enforcement actions — a move to shore up ad quality and preserve advertiser trust. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI hired a high‑profile Meta AI researcher — talent movement highlights competition for AI engineers but is common across the sector and not unique to Meta. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/industry comparisons show Alphabet gaining share in AI‑fuelled search and investing aggressively — useful context for competitive positioning but not an immediate earnings event. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: EU court adviser sided with regulators in a dispute over antitrust data requests — raises regulatory/compliance risk and potential costs in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: High‑profile US trial testimony about social‑media harms and new Instagram parent‑alert policies keep litigation and reputational risk elevated, which can pressure sentiment and regulatory scrutiny. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales by CFO Susan Li (55,702 shares) and recent COO selling may be read negatively by some investors, adding near‑term selling pressure despite common non‑signal reasons for sales; SEC filing available. Read More.

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.