Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Westside Investment Management Inc.’s 8th Largest Position

Westside Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,106 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 66 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.7% of Westside Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Westside Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,260,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Magnus Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC now owns 9,904 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,799,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,812 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after buying an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 2,831 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,658,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 6,919 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,052,000 after acquiring an additional 847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 8,275 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,845,000 after acquiring an additional 2,085 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of META opened at $647.49 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $601.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $560.33. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $385.66 and a 1 year high of $652.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction of $234,410.54. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. The trade was a 3.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on META. Mizuho boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $730.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $654.20.

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.