West Family Investments Inc. Has $3.92 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

West Family Investments Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,844 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,219 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.3% of West Family Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,918,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in META. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 48.8% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,886,000 after buying an additional 16,138 shares during the period. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 541.8% in the first quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 3,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,862,000 after acquiring an additional 3,224 shares during the period. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 39.1% in the first quarter. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. now owns 223,025 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $108,296,000 after acquiring an additional 62,643 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Sarl increased its position in Meta Platforms by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 292,128 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $141,852,000 after purchasing an additional 15,864 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.05, for a total transaction of $469,740.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,627 shares in the company, valued at $20,568,394.35. The trade was a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $345,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,135,544. The trade was a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 168,843 shares of company stock valued at $92,083,554. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. DA Davidson began coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price for the company. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of META stock opened at $563.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.52, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $572.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $523.31. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $313.66 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

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.