Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,025 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.3% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $79,212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,856 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,158,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,895 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $569,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 13,476 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,046,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 37.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 3,527 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,059,000 after purchasing an additional 954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 5,256 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,578,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of META traded up $0.66 on Monday, reaching $481.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 17,232,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,160,061. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $207.13 and a twelve month high of $531.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.33, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $494.81 and a 200-day moving average of $401.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Bank of America raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $520.28.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total transaction of $217,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,585,110. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,392,501 shares of company stock worth $666,506,318. Insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms 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.