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

West Family Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 126.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. 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 makes up approximately 1.8% of West Family Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,075,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the period. Smart Money Group LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 2,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 662 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $395,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Waddell & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the first quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,446,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of META stock opened at $673.42 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two 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 has a 50 day simple moving average of $673.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $706.52. The company has a market cap of $1.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.74, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $429,501.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 6,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,570,306. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,610 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total value of $1,590,690.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,962,956.64. This represents a 21.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,959 shares of company stock valued at $26,671,107. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Benchmark cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $837.00 to $802.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $821.63.

About Meta Platforms

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.