West Oak Capital LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

West Oak Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 242.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,645 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,165 shares during the period. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $829,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $11,285,855,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440,229 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,308 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,733,731,000 after buying an additional 2,748,620 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total transaction of $483,224.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,724,113. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 418,680 shares of company stock worth $211,992,147 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $480.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $574.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META traded down $3.93 on Friday, hitting $528.00. 11,304,691 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,221,447. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $276.03 and a 12-month high of $544.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $502.48 and a 200-day moving average of $490.42. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.33, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.