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

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

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

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $610.98 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The company has a 50-day moving average of $656.12 and a 200 day moving average of $608.02. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.54, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. 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 research note 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. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Two equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at $10,318,548.24. This trade represents a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 586,213 shares of company stock worth $387,084,349. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.