New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 73,522 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,858,071 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 73,522 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.5% of New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.07% of Meta Platforms worth $1,070,918,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $716.91 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a fifty day moving average of $655.49 and a 200 day moving average of $629.14. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $747.90. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.96, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The business’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Pivotal Research lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $808.00 target price (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.29.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $740.97, for a total transaction of $383,081.49. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 7,853 shares in the company, valued at $5,818,837.41. This trade represents a 6.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $737.00, for a total value of $382,503.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 27,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,360,362. This trade represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 154,285 shares of company stock valued at $105,518,153. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.