Sovran Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sovran Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 144.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,280 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,249 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.9% of Sovran Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Sovran Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,078,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on META. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $664.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $676.00 to $807.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.29.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.8%

NASDAQ META opened at $713.57 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $747.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $651.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $628.50.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $740.97, for a total transaction of $383,081.49. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 7,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,818,837.41. The trade was a 6.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total transaction of $1,691,609.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 153,766 shares of company stock valued at $105,135,650. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.