New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 33,876 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $19,835,000. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.8% of New Age Alpha Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding.
Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Seelaus Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,097,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VeraBank N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Insider Activity
In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total transaction of $643,414.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,607,740.16. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 584,823 shares of company stock valued at $386,274,777 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Oppenheimer increased their target price 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $718.31.
View Our Latest Analysis on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
NASDAQ META traded down $25.84 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $576.74. The stock had a trading volume of 17,561,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,238,405. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week 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. The stock has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $655.23 and a 200 day moving average of $609.21.
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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.
Meta Platforms Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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