Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc Has $6.49 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 12.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,251 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,562 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 0.5% of Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,485,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total transaction of $370,272.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,054 shares in the company, valued at $4,904,886. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their position. The sale 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 Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $3,334,383.52. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 16,463 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,855,043.68. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,652 shares of company stock worth $34,815,208 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.2%

META traded up $1.46 during trading on Thursday, reaching $689.41. The company had a trading volume of 5,382,290 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,481,369. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $583.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $613.00. The company has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.82, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $624.00 to $676.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $702.48.

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.