Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC Grows Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 175,954 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,437 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.4% of Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $107,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the first quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 8,394 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,802,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 47.6% in the first quarter. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 5,087 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,910,000 after buying an additional 1,640 shares in the last quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 21.5% in the first quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 7,573 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,333,000 after buying an additional 1,341 shares in the last quarter. Centennial Bank AR boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first quarter. Centennial Bank AR now owns 630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4,320.6% during the 1st quarter. Atlas Wealth LLC now owns 117,412 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $67,175,000 after buying an additional 114,756 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: A Florida teen dropped his lawsuit against Meta over alleged social-media addiction harms ahead of trial, reducing legal overhang and removing a potential headline risk for the company.
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies said Meta’s AI glasses could become a long-term hardware growth driver, noting strong early product reception and Meta’s first-mover advantage in shipping AI glasses at scale.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlighted strong demand for AI infrastructure led by Meta, including record hyperscaler leasing and speculation around a large compute deal with Anthropic, reinforcing confidence in Meta’s AI spending strategy.
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo and Rothschild & Co Redburn both raised price targets on Meta, signaling that some Wall Street analysts remain constructive on the stock’s longer-term upside.
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta continues to face mixed sentiment around its AI push, including scrutiny over heavy capital spending and broader concerns about big-tech debt and future infrastructure commitments.
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary comparing Meta with other Magnificent 7 names suggests investors are watching upcoming earnings closely for signs that the company can re-accelerate enthusiasm around the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts cited by Zacks warned Meta may report weaker earnings growth in its upcoming results, which could weigh on sentiment if the company disappoints expectations.
• Negative Sentiment: Several articles continued to focus on regulatory and legal risks tied to social-media harms, including criticism of Meta’s platforms and broader scrutiny of addictive features.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $767.00 to $835.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $835.64.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $627.17 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $605.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $626.29. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.43 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 30.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.63%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 37,948 shares of company stock valued at $23,184,319 in the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.