Provident Investment Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Provident Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 66,025 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,556 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 4.3% of Provident Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Provident Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $48,488,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Trust Co of the South lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 1,850 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management now owns 4,301 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,159,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 454 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, Vista Capital Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $794,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total transaction of $5,106,100.36. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,352.84. The trade was a 74.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $634.94, for a total value of $587,954.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,642,833.78. The trade was a 5.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 159,830 shares of company stock worth $102,409,190. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,117.00 to $1,144.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $885.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $844.44.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $622.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $651.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $675.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

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 the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Global user engagement is rising — Meta reported ~17% higher total time spent year‑over‑year across its platforms, which supports ad monetization and long‑term revenue growth. InsiderMonkey: User Engagement
• Positive Sentiment: Meta unveiled four MTIA custom AI chips and explicitly confirmed the Broadcom (AVGO) partnership — a move that helps scale inference workloads efficiently and could improve unit economics as GenAI inference rolls out. Meta AI blog: MTIA chips
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and buy‑the‑dip voices remain mixed but constructive — several pieces argue fundamentals (mid‑20% revenue growth last year, high margins) justify buying on weakness; JPMorgan reiterated an Overweight with a high target. Fool: Buy on pullback Finbold: JPMorgan target
• Neutral Sentiment: Smaller partner news (MONAT integration) expands social‑commerce use cases but is unlikely to move Meta’s top‑line materially in the near term. GlobeNewswire: MONAT integration
• Negative Sentiment: Huge AI infrastructure commitments — public reports show Meta has signed supply agreements (up to ~$27B with Nebius and large third‑party commitments) and is planning very large AI‑related CapEx — raising near‑term cash and margin pressure perceptions. CNBC: $27B Nebius deal
• Negative Sentiment: Layoff reports and related uncertainty — multiple outlets cite that Meta is considering cuts up to ~20% of staff to offset AI costs; that spurs short‑term volatility even if intended to improve long‑term efficiency. Reuters: Layoff report CNET: Workforce/AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and execution risks — reports of delays in Meta’s latest AI model and heightened scrutiny (e.g., China probing the Manus acquisition) increase downside risk and geopolitical/regulatory uncertainty. NYTimes: China scrutiny Fool: AI model delay

About Meta Platforms

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.