Fortis Advisors LLC Buys 75 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fortis Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 884 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Fortis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 53.6% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.8%

META opened at $702.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $607.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $620.85. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $740.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Moffett Nathanson boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $706.88.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total value of $577,513.05. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,552,673.10. The trade was a 2.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,802 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.96, for a total value of $5,476,691.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,550,434.92. This represents a 6.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 84,672 shares of company stock worth $55,455,647. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.