West Oak Capital LLC Acquires 105 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

West Oak Capital LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 28.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 480 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $233,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $212,000. Verum Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 663 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2,724.9% during the 1st quarter. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,856,000 after acquiring an additional 9,646 shares in the last quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 1,894 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $919,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 863,614 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $419,354,000 after acquiring an additional 40,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $509.96 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $274.38 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $481.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $458.42. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.51, for a total transaction of $253,089.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,069 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,167,719.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 252,395 shares of company stock valued at $123,781,816 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.