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

Key Points

• Westover Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.8%, now holding 7,298 shares valued at approximately $4.2 million, making it 26th in their portfolio.
• Several institutional investors, including Inlight Wealth Management and JCIC Asset Management, also opened new positions in Meta during the first quarter, contributing to the fact that 79.91% of shares are owned by institutional investors.
• Meta's CFO and CTO have sold significant stock, with insider sales totaling $104.9 million in the last 90 days, as the company’s stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts.

Westover Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 6.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,298 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 466 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 0.9% of Westover Capital Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Westover Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,206,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 712.2% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,462,589,000 after acquiring an additional 2,225,186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $1,162,918,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 152,980 shares of company stock valued at $105,708,832 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. HSBC raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $815.09.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock traded down $23.43 on Friday, hitting $750.01. 18,985,910 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,659,175. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $699.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $644.61. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $450.80 and a 52 week high of $784.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 40.31% and a net margin of 39.99%. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.16 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

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.