Westbourne Investments Inc. Takes $7.37 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Westbourne Investments Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 12,580 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,366,000. Meta Platforms accounts for about 4.3% of Westbourne Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,211,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,892,509 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total value of $199,626.14. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,265,707.52. The trade was a 8.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 249,071 shares of company stock worth $175,741,082. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $681.95.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $549.00 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $578.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $603.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $427.11 and a 1 year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

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.