Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by ACT Advisors LLC.

ACT Advisors LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 861 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the quarter. ACT Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the third 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 during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the third 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 during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the third 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 during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,223,148,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.3% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,003,927 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,906,009,000 after acquiring an additional 946,871 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,157,645.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,459,469 shares of company stock worth $691,726,161 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.28.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:META traded up $1.06 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $501.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,042,017 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,052,457. The company has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $207.13 and a one year high of $531.49. The business’s 50-day moving average is $492.26 and its 200-day moving average is $394.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

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.