Fortis Group Advisors LLC Has $3.40 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fortis Group Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,943 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 249 shares during the quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,402,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Gradient Investments LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,600,000 after acquiring an additional 5,953 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 6,101,501 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,962,767,000 after purchasing an additional 748,076 shares in the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 59.0% in the 1st quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $802,000 after purchasing an additional 613 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 26.5% during the 2nd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $846,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lincoln National Corp raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 34,790 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,894,000 after buying an additional 2,504 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several research reports. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. TD Securities upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $619.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, Director Peggy Alford sold 1,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $479.00, for a total value of $503,908.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,954,472. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at $15,034,122.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 249,912 shares of company stock valued at $132,027,612. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $563.69 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50 day moving average of $548.79 and a 200-day moving average of $509.61. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $279.40 and a 1-year high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

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.