West Branch Capital LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

West Branch Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,247 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 352 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.0% of West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,646,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. BNP Paribas started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $574.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $2.32 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $516.78. The company had a trading volume of 9,075,556 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,078,506. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $279.40 and a twelve month high of $544.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $503.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $492.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total value of $221,747.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 14,424 shares in the company, valued at $7,744,534.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total value of $221,747.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 14,424 shares in the company, valued at $7,744,534.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,034,122.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 329,890 shares of company stock worth $170,604,385. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.