New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Invests $19.84 Million in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 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 biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 16,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $9,691,000 after purchasing an additional 1,790 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $19,949,512,000. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $19,085,000. Blair William & Co. IL increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 377,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $220,897,000 after acquiring an additional 20,594 shares during the period. Finally, IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 254.7% in the 4th quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 5,119 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,997,000 after acquiring an additional 3,676 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total transaction of $577,513.05. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 31,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,552,673.10. This represents a 2.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % 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 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $655.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $607.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a P/E/G 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 (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts expect 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 $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 was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

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.