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

West Branch Capital LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 33.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,275 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 2,085 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.5% of West Branch Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. West Branch Capital LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,845,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $11.04 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $647.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 19,039,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,840,293. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $385.66 and a one year high of $652.00. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $601.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $560.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $700.00 target price (up from $680.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $654.20.

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.