Dodge & Cox Boosts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Dodge & Cox increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,163,253 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 638,739 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.7% of Dodge & Cox’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Dodge & Cox owned 0.17% of Meta Platforms worth $3,072,855,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the 2nd quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on META shares. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,117.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $821.63.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total value of $365,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,347 shares in the company, valued at $4,476,894.45. The trade was a 7.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $429,501.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,570,306. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 41,440 shares of company stock worth $26,233,492 in the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $650.13 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $668.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $707.04.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The company had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.03 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 9.28%.

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.