Kercheville Advisors LLC Has $7.68 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Kercheville Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,634 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,910 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.3% of Kercheville Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 488.1% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,608,445,000 after buying an additional 4,537,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 4,395,763 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $763.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $890.00 to $730.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $785.00 price target (down from $800.00) on shares of 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $785.22.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $578.02 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $790.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $592.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $611.61.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). The business had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.14 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 1,258 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $754,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 1,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $910,200. The trade was a 45.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,196 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total transaction of $5,063,409.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,260,343.46. The trade was a 41.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 34,957 shares of company stock valued at $20,442,696 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

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.