Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.

Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,047 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 489 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 5.5% of Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,589,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Harvey Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Harvey Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,280 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,349,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 54.3% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 1,669 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $962,000 after purchasing an additional 587 shares during the period. Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $755,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 3,449 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,988,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock traded down $1.50 during trading on Thursday, hitting $701.41. The company had a trading volume of 11,776,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,365,357. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $683.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $637.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.50, for a total transaction of $370,947.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,819 shares in the company, valued at $4,892,632.50. This represents a 7.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total value of $375,278.52. Following the sale, the insider owned 26,588 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,225,251.04. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 153,764 shares of company stock valued at $105,721,208 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on META. Pivotal Research dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $808.00 target price (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $736.05.

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.