Retirement Systems of Alabama Buys 9,333 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 714,342 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 9,333 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.6% of Retirement Systems of Alabama’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $411,718,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Valley Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on META. Barclays cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $664.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $710.00.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $682.35 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $618.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $623.14. The stock has a market cap of $1.72 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.99, for a total transaction of $364,332.81. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,664 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,121,841.36. The trade was a 1.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 8,312 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $702.13, for a total value of $5,836,104.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 88,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,048,632.36. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 111,031 shares of company stock worth $73,954,565 over the last 90 days. 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.