New York State Common Retirement Fund Buys 8,476 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,949,325 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,476 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.3% of New York State Common Retirement Fund's portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.12% of Meta Platforms worth $1,726,859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. VeraBank N.A. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindenwold Advisors INC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,388,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total transaction of $238,503.37. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,166 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,068,173.34. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 812,422 shares of company stock worth $525,534,818. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Needham & Company LLC restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $12.38 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $669.88. The company had a trading volume of 9,932,976 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,715,486. 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $648.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $594.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

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.