Empower Advisory Group LLC Buys 10,741 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 432,122 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,741 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 0.9% of Empower Advisory Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Empower Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $253,012,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.0 %

META traded up $13.21 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $670.71. The company had a trading volume of 9,932,976 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,715,486. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $648.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $594.06. The company has a market cap of $1.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on META. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $719.26.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 812,422 shares of company stock valued at $525,534,818 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.