Employees Retirement System of Texas Buys 2,229 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Employees Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 421,520 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 2,229 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.2% of Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $246,804,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $866,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,908,382,000 after acquiring an additional 110,040 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on META shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target 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. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total transaction of $525,577.86. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,268,742.26. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 535,725 shares of company stock valued at $356,391,449. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $504.73 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $648.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $610.77. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

About Meta Platforms

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.