Fortis Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fortis Advisors LLC cut its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 809 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 27 shares during the quarter. Fortis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $474,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lindenwold Advisors INC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,271,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,595,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total value of $239,808.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,456,828. The trade was a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $615.41, for a total transaction of $7,984,944.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 381,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $234,649,678.90. This represents a 3.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 423,427 shares of company stock worth $256,996,450 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $594.25 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $595.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $554.81. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $358.61 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.05.

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.