Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO Acquires 1,077 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO boosted its Meta stake by 15.6%, buying an additional 1,077 shares to hold 7,997 shares worth $5.279 million, making META roughly 1.8% of its portfolio and its 14th largest holding.
• Meta reported a strong quarter with $8.88 EPS (vs. $8.16 expected) and $59.89 billion revenue, sits at a $1.59 trillion market cap, and has seen multiple analyst price‑target upgrades and buy ratings recently.
• Despite bullish analyst sentiment and high institutional ownership (~79.9%), Meta faces rising legal/regulatory risk (notably a Massachusetts youth‑addiction suit) and notable insider selling in the past quarter.

Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 15.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,997 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,077 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.8% of Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,279,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $1,191,175,000. Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 948.7% in the third quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 1,243,577 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $913,000 after buying an additional 1,124,998 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 103.5% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,998,624 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,475,166,000 after buying an additional 1,016,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in Meta Platforms by 209.3% during the third quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 430,434 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $314,340,000 after buying an additional 824,276 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $629.83 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $628.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $654.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The company has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.31. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business's revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $8.02 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $890.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $885.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $838.04.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Muse Spark launch strengthens Meta’s AI narrative — investors see the new LLM as evidence Meta can compete with other big‑model providers and begin monetizing AI via commerce, APIs and ad tools; early analyst support and bullish writeups helped lift shares. Meta's AI Outlook Brightens With Muse Spark Release
• Positive Sentiment: Expanded $21B CoreWeave deal gives Meta committed AI compute capacity through 2032 — reduces operational risk of running large models, signals scale and continuity for AI roadmaps (though it implies heavy future spending). CoreWeave signs $21 billion AI cloud deal with Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support is improving — CFRA upgraded Meta to Strong Buy and some firms remain constructive on share recovery tied to AI gains, helping sentiment. CFRA Just Upgraded Meta to Strong Buy. The AI Turnaround Story Is Getting Hard to Argue With
• Neutral Sentiment: Street price targets and ratings are mixed — some firms trimmed targets while keeping outperform/buy ratings, reflecting confidence in long‑term AI upside but concern over valuation and spend. (See recent Wolfe/KeyCorp/Rosenblatt notes.)
• Negative Sentiment: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled Meta must face a state lawsuit alleging features were designed to addict teens — the decision increases legal and regulatory risk and could widen damages exposure if similar suits progress. Meta must face youth addiction lawsuit by Massachusetts, court rules
• Negative Sentiment: Meta pulled ads recruiting potential plaintiffs for social‑media addiction suits — a defensive PR/legal move that underscores ongoing litigation pressure and recent adverse jury outcomes. Meta pulls ads aimed at recruiting plaintiffs for social media addiction lawsuits

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $632.02, for a total transaction of $366,571.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,427 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,797,952.54. This trade represents a 11.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 160,931 shares of company stock worth $102,997,526 in the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.

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