Kerusso Capital Management LLC Makes New $3.41 Million Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Kerusso Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,645 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,411,000. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.1% of Kerusso Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $785.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Zacks Research lowered Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $840.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $818.57.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7%

NASDAQ:META opened at $658.76 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $642.15 and a 200-day moving average of $697.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.29. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The business’s revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.03 EPS. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $608.35, for a total transaction of $314,516.95. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 10,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,478,319.15. The trade was a 4.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.28, for a total value of $358,602.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,587 shares in the company, valued at $3,454,330.36. The trade was a 9.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 40,632 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,572 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Threads ad rollout expands immediate ad-monetization optionality for a 400M+ MAU product, supporting near-term revenue upside. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors point to attractive valuation after the pullback (multiple firms reiterating buys and high price targets), encouraging value-oriented buying. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Operational/tech progress: Meta’s AI lab reportedly delivered its first in-house models, a signal that internal AI capability is advancing and could support future product monetization and efficiency gains. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Hardware/metaverse upside: TD Cowen raised its PT and Meta plans to ramp Meta Glasses production, which supports longer-term diversification of revenue streams. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta suspended teen access to its AI characters globally while it builds a teen-specific version — a precautionary move that reduces regulatory/PR risk but could slow feature engagement and short-term monetization from those users. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming earnings (Jan. 28) and especially 2026 CapEx guidance are the primary near-term catalysts — strong revenue/AI updates could lift shares, while higher-than-expected CapEx would likely pressure the stock. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider activity: COO Javier Oliván’s routine share sales continue to be disclosed; amounts are modest relative to his holdings and the company, so impact is limited. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk: UK regulator Ofcom opened an investigation into Meta’s responsiveness on WhatsApp data requests, increasing compliance uncertainty in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk: Meta is contesting evidence limits ahead of a New Mexico child-safety trial — unfavorable rulings or negative publicity could weigh on sentiment. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst pressure: Some firms have trimmed price targets (Stifel cut its PT; UBS trimmed earlier), reflecting sensitivity to guidance and spending — these moves can cap near-term upside if guidance disappoints. Read More.

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.