Vantage Investment Partners LLC Has $39.26 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Vantage Investment Partners LLC increased its Meta Platforms stake by 8.1% in Q1, ending with 68,620 shares valued at about $39.26 million. Meta now represents 2.7% of the firm’s portfolio and is its 16th-largest holding.
• Meta continues to draw attention as an AI leader, with bullish commentary around its heavy spending on data centers and custom chips. Analysts and market coverage still see meaningful upside, even as Wedbush recently reiterated a neutral view with a $671 price target.
• The company’s latest results were strong, with EPS of $10.44 and revenue of $56.31 billion, both ahead of expectations. However, the stock has also faced some pressure from insider selling and concerns about the scale of its AI capital spending.

Vantage Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 8.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,620 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,171 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.7% of Vantage Investment Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Vantage Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $39,260,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC now owns 563 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial Strategies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Summit Financial Strategies Inc. now owns 797 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $456,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Oakwell Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the first quarter. Oakwell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,559 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,464,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Sachetta LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 35.8% in the first quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 767 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $439,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TSA Wealth Managment LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 19.5% during the first quarter. TSA Wealth Managment LLC now owns 1,495 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $855,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continue to frame Meta as a major AI winner, with reports citing significant upside potential and strong hedge fund support. Muse Image: Can Meta Platforms Inc (META) Kill Two Birds With One Stone?
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is still drawing bullish attention for its heavy AI infrastructure spending, including plans for large-scale data center investment and in-house chip development, which investors view as evidence of an aggressive AI strategy. How Meta Platforms (META) Is Strengthening Its AI Infrastructure With Custom Chips and Massive Computing Expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Meta also received a fresh analyst update from Wedbush with a neutral rating and a $671 price target, implying modest upside from current levels. Benzinga coverage of Wedbush rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage around Meta’s AI chatbot safety changes and oversight-board findings adds to the company’s public-policy and product discussion, but these items are not clearly major financial catalysts. Meta now alerts parents if their teen discussed suicide or self-harm with its AI chatbot Meta Oversight Board finds top AI models less likely to criticize repressive regimes
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is facing a lawsuit from former employees alleging AI-driven layoffs disproportionately affected workers on protected leave, which could create legal and reputational risk. Meta employees sue over alleged AI-driven layoffs targeting workers on leave
• Negative Sentiment: Some broader commentary points to insider selling and concerns about the size of Meta’s capital spending, which could weigh on sentiment if investors worry about returns on its AI investments. Meta Vs. Microsoft: Insider Selling Shows Meta's 1.4 Trillion Existential Crisis Worse Than Microsoft's Legal Woes Meta Is Betting $50 Billion on AI Data Centers. Where Does The Stock Go From Here?

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. The trade was a 41.08% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. Insiders have sold 39,503 shares of company stock valued at $24,241,859 in the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.5%

META stock opened at $664.54 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50-day moving average of $602.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $626.87. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $520.26 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.43 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.42 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on META. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $1,015.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "positive" rating to a "positive" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $725.00 price objective (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Benchmark started coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $830.45.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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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