Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC Makes New $12.71 Million Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 22,198 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,707,000. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.7% of Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.7% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,733,731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,748,620 shares during the period. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $595,152,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Meta Platforms by 30.0% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,411,009 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,656,318,000 after purchasing an additional 788,131 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $647.00 to $652.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $619.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $563.69 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $548.79 and a 200 day moving average of $509.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $279.40 and a 12 month high of $602.95. The company has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.38, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $2,663,825.32. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,315,852.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total value of $11,150,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 338,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $188,810,838.24. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 249,912 shares of company stock worth $132,027,612 in the last quarter. 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.