Meta Platforms, Inc. $META is Cheviot Value Management LLC’s 9th Largest Position

Cheviot Value Management LLC reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,283 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,971 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 3.3% of Cheviot Value Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Cheviot Value Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $31,022,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $44,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.28, for a total transaction of $358,602.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,454,330.36. The trade was a 9.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $665.00, for a total value of $343,805.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 10,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,737,780. This trade represents a 4.85% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 39,077 shares of company stock worth $23,955,958 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street has been upgrading Meta and lifting price targets after the company’s strong Q4 print and exceptionally strong Q1 revenue guide, supporting upside expectations. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Several brokerages reiterated/raised ratings — examples include Cantor Fitzgerald bumping its target to $860 and Barclays keeping an Overweight — reinforcing the buy-side view that fundamentals and ad recovery justify higher multiples. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/tech headlines around AI capex are creating mixed market reactions: Meta’s AI investments and infrastructure plans underpin growth but also increase near-term spending volatility; that ambiguity is tempering momentum. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is locking in off-grid power for hyperscale data needs (reported prepayment/agreements with SMR developers), which secures energy for AI workloads but implies long-dated infrastructure commitments. This is strategic but capital-intensive. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts and commentators warn that AI capex and Reality Labs spending are rising quickly; several notes caution that mounting expenses could compress margins if revenue acceleration slows. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk: India’s top court questioned WhatsApp’s data-sharing with Meta entities and warned a ban could be reimposed — a tangible legal/regulatory headwind in a major market. Read More.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $691.70 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $655.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $695.91. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.43, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The company had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $8.02 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Pivotal Research reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $930.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Oppenheimer downgraded Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price objective for the company. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $848.50.

Meta Platforms 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.