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

South Dakota Investment Council lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 126,299 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 389 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.5% of South Dakota Investment Council’s 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.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $261,680,000 after acquiring an additional 112,047 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the period. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,573,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. PBMares Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. PBMares Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,718 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $984,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Hedeker Wealth LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hedeker Wealth LLC now owns 10,833 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,201,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $668.20 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $653.18 and its 200-day moving average is $596.59. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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 currently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 813,951 shares of company stock valued at $526,565,232. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Meta Platforms

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.