South Dakota Investment Council Cuts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

South Dakota Investment Council decreased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 126,299 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 389 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.5% of South Dakota Investment Council’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $73,949,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 813,951 shares of company stock worth $526,565,232. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $668.20 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $653.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $596.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two investment 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

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.