Fortis Group Advisors LLC Purchases 83 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fortis Group Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,439 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $863,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,011,920,000 after acquiring an additional 1,733,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,469,906,000 after acquiring an additional 927,491 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,719 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on META shares. Guggenheim lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META traded up $0.56 on Friday, hitting $504.16. 10,243,347 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,607,878. The business’s fifty day moving average is $480.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $442.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $271.42 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.96, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 630,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $300,466,976.03. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 630,293 shares in the company, valued at $300,466,976.03. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 31,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $492.37, for a total value of $15,506,208.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 437,528 shares of company stock valued at $215,768,262. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.