Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,092 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 663 shares during the period. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $12,157,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. ABLE Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,251,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,435 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $840,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Finally, Orin Green Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Orin Green Financial LLC now owns 795 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $465,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $822.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. This trade represents a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 269,243 shares of company stock worth $200,605,051. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of META opened at $782.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The company has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.32, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $722.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $654.81. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $795.46.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.16 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.60%.

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.

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