Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. Purchases 8,754 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 67.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,754 shares during the period. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $12,738,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total value of $1,387,085.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total transaction of $243,323.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,318,548.24. The trade was a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 586,213 shares of company stock worth $387,084,349. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Benchmark upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $610.98 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $656.12 and a 200 day moving average of $608.02. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.54, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.