GSG Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

GSG Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,463 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the quarter. GSG Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MJP Associates Inc. ADV boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 5,097 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,570,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Keystone Wealth Services LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.7% in the second quarter. Keystone Wealth Services LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 48.5% in the second quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 784 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $395,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Sitrin Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1,058.8% during the second quarter. Sitrin Capital Management LLC now owns 9,850 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,967,000 after buying an additional 9,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 2,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,152,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Peggy Alford sold 1,052 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $479.00, for a total value of $503,908.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,168 shares in the company, valued at $2,954,472. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,534 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total transaction of $3,299,931.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 116,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,639,184.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Peggy Alford sold 1,052 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $479.00, for a total value of $503,908.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,954,472. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 319,158 shares of company stock worth $158,629,849 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $563.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $572.51.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $8.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $517.77. 13,696,640 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,487,600. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $274.38 and a 1 year high of $542.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50 day moving average of $496.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $483.87.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

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.