Waycross Partners LLC Has $48.41 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Waycross Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 21.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 83,997 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 15,052 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 5.4% of Waycross Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Waycross Partners LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $48,413,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $24,777,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $8,977,361,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255,546 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of META opened at $769.30 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $714.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $651.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $784.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The firm has a market cap of $1.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.16 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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 payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $822.41.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $768.67, for a total value of $12,181,113.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $760.26, for a total value of $393,054.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 5,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,005,049.68. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 274,416 shares of company stock valued at $199,599,359 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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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