WCM Investment Management LLC Acquires 415 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,814 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 415 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Valley Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,743,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,251,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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 on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly 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 152,756 shares of company stock worth $104,720,878 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of META traded up $0.13 on Tuesday, reaching $718.48. The stock had a trading volume of 4,123,231 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,483,918. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $662.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $631.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC raised Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Moffett Nathanson boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $812.00 price objective (up previously from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $722.12.

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.