Utah Retirement Systems Boosts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Utah Retirement Systems boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 363,544 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 846 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.3% of Utah Retirement Systems’ portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Utah Retirement Systems’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $212,859,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,087,000 after buying an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 255.9% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,001,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,350 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $628.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $695.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $681.95.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $554.44 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $427.11 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $581.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $604.05.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 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 period last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,199,589.06. The trade was a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 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 $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 248,463 shares of company stock valued at $175,403,314. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.