Caldwell Trust Co Has $5.82 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Caldwell Trust Co boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 19.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,812 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,447 shares during the quarter. Caldwell Trust Co’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,817,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Alpine Bank Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $3,159,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 454 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during 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. Forza Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.9% during the third quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 402 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Macroview Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.3% during the third quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 465 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $341,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Pivotal Research reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $930.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $840.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.2%

META opened at $609.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The company’s 50-day moving average is $627.67 and its 200 day moving average is $645.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.16, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.74, for a total value of $562,767.24. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 7,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,727,609.46. The trade was a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $667.00, for a total transaction of $386,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,565,949. This represents a 13.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 168,193 shares of company stock worth $107,642,717. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remain bullish on Meta Platforms, with recent notes from firms like BofA and Erste Group lifting earnings estimates or price targets after strong Q1 results, reinforcing expectations for meaningful upside. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s AI push is drawing attention as the company reportedly works on AI agents and improved models like Muse Spark, which could support new products and future monetization opportunities. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary pieces continue to frame Meta as an important AI and large-cap tech name, but these are mostly opinion-driven and do not add new fundamental information for the stock. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta was also mentioned in a deal roundup about acquiring Assured Robot Intelligence, but the report provided little detail, so the market impact is unclear. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reports highlighting employee dissatisfaction and impending layoffs suggest Meta’s AI transformation is creating internal friction, while also reminding investors that the company’s AI ambitions come with higher costs. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern remains centered on Meta’s enormous 2026 capex plan, estimated at $125 billion to $145 billion, which is fueling fears that profitability could come under pressure before AI investments pay off. Article Title

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.