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

Westbourne Investments Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 12,580 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,366,000. Meta Platforms makes up about 4.3% of Westbourne Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 255.9% during the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,001,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,350 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $680.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $681.95.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $549.00 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $427.11 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $578.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $603.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $696.39, for a total value of $9,035,660.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 210,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $146,918,094.69. This trade represents a 5.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $702.24, for a total value of $635,527.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 28,390 shares in the company, valued at $19,936,593.60. This trade represents a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 249,071 shares of company stock worth $175,741,082. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

About Meta Platforms

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.