Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Weitz Investment Management Inc.'s 9th Largest Position

Weitz Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 23.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 120,760 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 37,840 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 3.7% of Weitz Investment Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Weitz Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $69,601,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,251,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,435 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $840,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orin Green Financial LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Orin Green Financial LLC now owns 795 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $465,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 237,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 260,024 shares of company stock valued at $188,466,159 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $761.83 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $784.75. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $711.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $649.96.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 7.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on META shares. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

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.

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