West Wealth Group LLC Makes New $247,000 Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

West Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 509 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $247,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. S.A. Mason LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $645,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. LongView Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $856,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 435 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Madison Wealth Partners Inc lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $502,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.18, for a total value of $245,578.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,089 shares in the company, valued at $3,552,865.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 14,874 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.38, for a total transaction of $7,487,274.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 135,442 shares in the company, valued at $68,178,793.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.18, for a total transaction of $245,578.20. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,552,865.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 308,979 shares of company stock worth $153,474,852 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $518.50.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META traded down $27.80 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $461.99. 27,738,682 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,250,618. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $1.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.54, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $274.38 and a 52-week high of $542.81. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $493.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $469.42.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.