West Branch Capital LLC Has $5.82 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

West Branch Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 22.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,095 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,820 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.9% of West Branch Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. West Branch Capital LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,819,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Suvretta Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $99,735,000 after buying an additional 1,850 shares during the period. Skye Global Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 130.9% in the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $44,616,000 after buying an additional 43,200 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $459,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 255.9% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,001,044,000 after buying an additional 1,229,350 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after buying an additional 110,040 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of META traded down $10.49 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $682.87. 9,259,272 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,521,911. The company has a market cap of $1.72 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.55, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The firm's 50 day moving average is $604.07 and its 200-day moving average is $619.60. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.50, for a total transaction of $369,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,446 shares in the company, valued at $4,523,445. This represents a 7.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $1,025,052.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 139,538 shares of the company's stock, valued at $97,834,277.94. This represents a 1.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 86,201 shares of company stock worth $56,377,837 in the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Bank of America increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $676.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $704.26.

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.