Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Lowers Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 69.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,917 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 8,708 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,891,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,506 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,587,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the period. Pachira Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the second quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the second quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,223 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,641,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Vista Capital Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $794,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Myecfo LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Myecfo LLC now owns 776 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $573,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $819.46.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $664.16, for a total transaction of $344,699.04. Following the sale, the insider owned 30,215 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,067,594.40. The trade was a 1.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $669.63, for a total value of $346,198.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 13,751 shares in the company, valued at $9,208,082.13. This represents a 3.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 40,458 shares of company stock valued at $25,436,200 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $647.51 on Tuesday. 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 market cap of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.28. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $664.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $707.70.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.03 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.