West Family Investments Inc. Has $7.08 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

West Family Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 126.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,586 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,353 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.8% of West Family Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,075,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Infusive Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.7% during the first quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,620 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,614,000 after purchasing an additional 2,285 shares in the last quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,011,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 210,526 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $155,387,000 after buying an additional 20,912 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 84,687 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $62,507,000 after buying an additional 4,473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Motiv8 Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC now owns 2,080 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,535,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $920.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Zacks Research downgraded Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $915.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $821.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total value of $6,935,793.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,432,843.65. This trade represents a 82.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $642.22, for a total value of $333,312.18. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 30,734 shares in the company, valued at $19,737,989.48. This trade represents a 1.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,959 shares of company stock valued at $26,671,107. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $673.42 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $673.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $706.52.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $6.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.