Allied Investment Advisors LLC Has $286,000 Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Allied Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 489 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Allied Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $1,301,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,430,000. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. now owns 20,861 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,214,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 4,618 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,704,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 2,949,325 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,726,859,000 after purchasing an additional 8,476 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $657.50 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $648.73 and a 200-day moving average of $594.06.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 last year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total value of $238,503.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,068,173.34. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 812,422 shares of company stock valued at $525,534,818 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.