New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 33,876 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 33,876 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,835,000. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.8% of New Age Alpha Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total value of $535,542.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,477,780.40. This represents a 2.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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. Insiders have sold 584,823 shares of company stock worth $386,274,777 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $602.58 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $655.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $607.98. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on META. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms 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.