Trivest Advisors Ltd Reduces Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Trivest Advisors Ltd trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 43.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 203,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 154,100 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 4.8% of Trivest Advisors Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Trivest Advisors Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $149,079,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.3%

META opened at $648.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $655.83 and its 200 day moving average is $685.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. The business had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.02 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $639.18, for a total transaction of $370,724.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,200,374.26. This represents a 10.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $652.68, for a total transaction of $604,381.68. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 17,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,121,014.52. The trade was a 5.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 103,837 shares of company stock worth $66,356,760. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Meta Platforms News

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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on META. Roth Mkm decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 price objective (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 24th. Erste Group Bank cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price target for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $844.44.

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.