Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Has $20.73 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 29.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 36,232 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 15,415 shares during the quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $20,729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the first quarter. Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA now owns 96,751 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,354,000 after purchasing an additional 8,150 shares during the period. Mustico Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 48.5% during the first quarter. Mustico Financial Group Inc. now owns 456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Lombard Odier Asset Management USA Corp bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth about $204,000. Dorsey Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey Asset Management LLC now owns 161,683 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $92,504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 59.1% in the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 94,910 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $54,301,000 after buying an additional 35,272 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total value of $508,770.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,823,376.50. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total value of $303,875.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. This trade represents a 12.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 have sold 39,325 shares of company stock valued at $23,979,087 in the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $585.61 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.29, a PEG ratio of 0.99 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $603.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $624.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). The company had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter revenue rose 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding the $60.2 billion consensus estimate. Advertising revenue increased 27%, ad impressions grew 14%, and average price per ad rose 12%, indicating that Meta’s core advertising business remains robust. Meta stock sinks as Q2 earnings disappoint on multiple fronts
• Positive Sentiment: Meta said Reality Labs lost more than $4.6 billion, but the loss was narrower than analysts expected. The company also continues pursuing enterprise AI, including business agents for customer service and other workplace functions. Meta’s Reality Labs lost over $4.6 billion in second quarter
• Positive Sentiment: A $14 billion El Paso data-center venture with BlackRock will help Meta secure approximately one gigawatt of AI capacity while sharing financing and balance-sheet risk. The structure could reduce the immediate burden of Meta’s infrastructure buildout, although Meta remains the facility’s primary tenant. Meta, BlackRock partner on $14 billion El Paso data center
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts remain bullish: Guggenheim reaffirmed a Buy rating with an $800 price target, while a Seeking Alpha analysis cited a normalized operating margin of roughly 36.8% after excluding legal and severance charges. Meta Platforms Q2: The Market Sells, I Buy The Dip
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta forecast third-quarter revenue of $61 billion to $64 billion, broadly around but slightly below the $63.2 billion consensus midpoint. No EPS outlook was provided in the reported guidance. Zuckerberg also promoted open AI development and opposed restrictions on Chinese AI models, positions that may support innovation but could attract regulatory scrutiny. Zuckerberg says Meta’s enterprise AI opportunity extends beyond agents
• Negative Sentiment: Second-quarter EPS fell to $6.18, missing estimates near $7.1–$7.2 and declining from $7.14 a year earlier. Results were pressured by approximately $2.4 billion of legal costs and $1.2 billion of severance expenses. Meta misses profit expectations, sticks to massive AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Meta plans to spend approximately $130 billion to $145 billion on AI and data-center infrastructure this year, with the minimum raised by $5 billion. Investors fear the spending will compress margins and free cash flow before a direct AI revenue stream is proven. Meta shares tumble as AI spending stuns Wall Street
• Negative Sentiment: COO Javier Olivan sold shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing his holdings in two transactions. Because the sales were scheduled, they are a limited bearish signal but may reinforce investor caution. SEC insider transaction filing

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $835.64.

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.