Supplemental Annuity Collective Trust of NJ Sells 1,900 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Supplemental Annuity Collective Trust of NJ trimmed its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,300 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,900 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 2.8% of Supplemental Annuity Collective Trust of NJ's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Supplemental Annuity Collective Trust of NJ's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,544,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $186,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,388,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,569,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 810,217 shares of company stock valued at $523,808,864. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $820.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META traded down $11.22 on Friday, reaching $683.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,609,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,750,735. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.20. The firm's 50 day moving average is $645.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $589.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 last year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

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.