WCM Investment Management LLC Purchases 2,139 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

WCM Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,609 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 2,139 shares during the quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,558,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total transaction of $11,150,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 338,662 shares in the company, valued at $188,810,838.24. This represents a 5.58 % 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 16,702 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.94, for a total value of $8,800,951.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 46,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,393,106.48. This represents a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 158,200 shares of company stock valued at $84,533,106. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $577.16 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $313.66 and a 52 week high of $602.95. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $565.83 and its 200 day moving average is $518.72. The company has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.19, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

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.