TCW Group Inc. Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• TCW Group Inc. has reduced its shareholding in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 1.6%, retaining 592,269 shares, which represent about 3.1% of its total portfolio.
• Analyst ratings for Meta Platforms are predominantly positive, with a consensus average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $811.31.
• Meta recently reported earnings of $7.14 EPS, exceeding estimates, along with a significant revenue increase of 21.6% year-over-year.

TCW Group Inc. decreased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 592,269 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 9,576 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 3.1% of TCW Group Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. TCW Group Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $341,360,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at $82,928,955.27. This represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the 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 owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 152,980 shares of company stock worth $105,708,832 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Roth Capital raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $815.09.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.0%

NASDAQ META traded down $23.43 during trading on Friday, reaching $750.01. 18,985,910 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,087,110. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.27. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $701.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $645.68. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $450.80 and a fifty-two week high of $784.75.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during 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%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.16 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

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.