California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,576,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 51,900 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.7% of California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.14% of Meta Platforms worth $1,265,862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 670 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Smithfield Trust Co boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 4,895 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,730,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 1,590 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $563,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 1,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $548,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners now owns 4,566 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,616,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms
In other news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 630,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $300,466,976.03. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 77,412 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $497.61, for a total transaction of $38,520,985.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total value of $50,054,550.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 630,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $300,466,976.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 713,553 shares of company stock worth $351,962,991. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.80.
Read Our Latest Research Report on META
Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4 %
Shares of META opened at $468.55 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $258.88 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The company has a market capitalization of $1.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $481.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $431.83. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.19 EPS for the current year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.
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.
Further Reading
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