West Oak Capital LLC Reduces Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

West Oak Capital LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 96.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,580 shares during the quarter. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $38,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $646.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total value of $571,552.75. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,215,915.50. This represents a 2.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,131 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $652,767.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,229 shares in the company, valued at $709,329.64. This represents a 47.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 411,441 shares of company stock worth $249,595,828 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $615.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $358.61 and a 1-year high of $638.40. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $593.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $552.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

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.