Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Makes New $7.28 Million Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Westwood Holdings Group Inc. made a new investment of approximately $7.28 million in Meta Platforms, acquiring 12,625 shares during the first quarter of the year.
• Meta Platforms recently reported a return on equity of 39.33% and revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations.
• Several investment firms have raised their price targets for Meta Platforms, with Royal Bank of Canada increasing theirs from $740.00 to $840.00, indicating growing confidence in the company's performance.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 12,625 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $7,277,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of META. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares during the last quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $99,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the last quarter. Skye Global Management LP boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 130.9% in the 4th quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $44,616,000 after purchasing an additional 43,200 shares during the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JMG Financial Group Ltd. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $284,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $822.41.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $760.26, for a total transaction of $393,054.42. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 5,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,005,049.68. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 515 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $776.38, for a total transaction of $399,835.70. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 25,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,436,673.30. This represents a 2.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 290,263 shares of company stock worth $211,724,057 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $3.43 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $765.87. 7,597,659 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,441,953. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $784.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The stock has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $714.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $651.30.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the firm earned $5.16 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

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.