Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Holdings Increased by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,949,325 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,476 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.3% of New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,726,859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 32.5% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $261,680,000 after purchasing an additional 112,047 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 853 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $488,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC now owns 68,702 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,328,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management grew its position in Meta Platforms by 4.9% in the third quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 100,448 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $57,501,000 after acquiring an additional 4,735 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $668.13 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $647.97 and a 200 day moving average of $593.08. The stock has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 3,523 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.10, for a total transaction of $2,469,975.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 812,422 shares of company stock valued at $525,534,818. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

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.