Weitz Investment Management Inc. Sells 5,050 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Weitz Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 115,710 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 5,050 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 4.6% of Weitz Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Weitz Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $85,404,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $42,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the 2nd quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Maseco LLP bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Piscataqua Savings Bank boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 433.3% in the second quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Arete Research set a $718.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer cut Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $821.63.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of META opened at $639.60 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $676.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $706.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.03 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total transaction of $365,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,476,894.45. This trade represents a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total transaction of $4,190,037.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 88,370 shares in the company, valued at $53,857,980.20. This represents a 7.22% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,440 shares of company stock valued at $26,337,795. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company 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.