Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Lowers Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 102,670 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 15,792 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.4% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $59,175,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 875 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $129,666,000 after acquiring an additional 7,587 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,624,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $765.11, for a total value of $12,124,698.17. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 515 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $776.38, for a total value of $399,835.70. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,436,673.30. The trade was a 2.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 289,356 shares of company stock valued at $211,138,344. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $765.87 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.73, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $784.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company’s 50 day moving average is $716.43 and its 200 day moving average is $652.13.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.16 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Company 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.