Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,098 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the period. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $629,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Central Valley Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,271,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the third quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 1,906 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,099,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 3,560 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,038,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $572.43 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $313.66 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $556.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $513.67. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on META shares. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $513.09, for a total transaction of $8,569,629.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 98,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,618,380.86. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $513.09, for a total transaction of $8,569,629.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 98,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,618,380.86. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,315,852.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 243,919 shares of company stock worth $129,296,067 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Company 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.