GFS Advisors LLC Has $11.48 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

GFS Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,911 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 522 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.3% of GFS Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. GFS Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of META. CLG LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the first quarter. CLG LLC now owns 1,060 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Advisory Resource Group lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 3,323 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,915,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. ERn Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.3% in the first quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 2,651 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,528,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 18.6% in the first quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 8,835 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,095,000 after buying an additional 1,383 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 65.3% during the first quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 742 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $435,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 8,312 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $702.13, for a total value of $5,836,104.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,372 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $62,048,632.36. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total value of $525,577.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,261 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,268,742.26. This trade represents a 2.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 110,519 shares of company stock valued at $73,706,694. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $664.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $803.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $712.69.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META traded down $3.52 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $708.68. The stock had a trading volume of 9,285,562 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,488,533. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. 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 50 day moving average of $625.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $624.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.