Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Acquires 3,088 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 13.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,692 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,088 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.7% of Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,384,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 53.6% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $1,025,052.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 139,538 shares of the company's stock, valued at $97,834,277.94. This represents a 1.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,104 shares of company stock valued at $35,270,242 over the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" 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 assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $8.34 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $702.40. 10,818,910 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,509,547. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $589.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $616.49. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.