Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Boosts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,040,783 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,883 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.4% of Treasurer of the State of North Carolina's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $609,389,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total value of $500,462.19. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,340 shares in the company, valued at $15,943,062.60. The trade was a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 451,119 shares of company stock valued at $304,709,239. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

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Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ META traded down $11.88 during trading on Monday, reaching $531.69. 7,562,309 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,749,020. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $628.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $609.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $790.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $698.40.

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.