Employees Retirement System of Texas Sells 41,379 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Employees Retirement System of Texas cut its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 389,372 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 41,379 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.1% of Employees Retirement System of Texas’ portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $257,021,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of META. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the period. Headwater Capital Co Ltd raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 294.7% in the first quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $86,454,000 after purchasing an additional 112,000 shares during the period. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $322,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Meta Platforms News

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Meta is reportedly weighing a large stock sale to fund AI infrastructure, sparking dilution concerns and pressuring the shares. Article: Meta weighs big equity raising after blockbuster Google deal
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s AI rollout has faced another delay, with the Muse Spark developer API still lacking a launch date, raising questions about when the company can monetize its AI investments. Article: Meta repeatedly pushes back new AI model release for developers
• Negative Sentiment: Privacy concerns resurfaced after reports that Meta smart glasses could use facial-recognition-style “faceprint” tracking, which could invite regulatory scrutiny and consumer backlash. Article: Code Reveals Meta Smart Glasses Can Use ‘Faceprint’ Tracking, Raising Privacy Alarms
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is also battling renewed policy and legal pressure in Australia over proposed payments for news, adding another regulatory overhang. Article: Meta accuses Australia of breaching FTA, invokes US ‘trade action’
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta continues to receive bullish long-term commentary from some analysts and investors who view it as a major AI and advertising platform, but that optimism is being overshadowed today by funding and execution concerns. Article: Analyst Sees Multi-Billion Dollar Potential In Meta Platforms’ Subscription Model

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total value of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,014,978.24. This trade represents a 41.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total transaction of $1,748,612.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 42,860 shares of company stock worth $26,555,260 in the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $840.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 5.5%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $593.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $618.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $636.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.43 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.63%.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.