Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Raises Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its Meta Platforms stake by 4.2% in Q1, buying 7,345 more shares and bringing its total to 181,763 shares worth about $104 million. Meta remains the fund’s 7th-largest holding.
• Meta continues to attract broad institutional support: several other funds also raised their positions, and 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
• Meta reported strong Q1 earnings, with EPS of $10.44 topping estimates and revenue rising 33.1% year over year. Analysts still largely rate the stock a Moderate Buy, with a consensus price target of $830.45.

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 181,763 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 7,345 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.3% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $103,992,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Three Seasons Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Three Seasons Wealth LLC now owns 2,054 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,175,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Nolet Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 19.3% during the 1st quarter. Nolet Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,460 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $836,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Gentry Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 49.6% during the 1st quarter. Gentry Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,236 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $707,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC now owns 15,698 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $8,981,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harmony Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 4,409 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,523,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total value of $303,875.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,443 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 37,948 shares of company stock worth $23,184,319. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $645.85 on Tuesday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $604.11 and its 200 day moving average is $626.63. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.48, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.Meta Platforms's revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.43 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several research reports. Citizens Jmp reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $725.00 price objective (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $865.00 to $766.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $830.45.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America expects Meta to beat second-quarter estimates, citing healthy ad demand and AI-related improvements, with Q2 revenue now seen at $60.6 billion and EPS at $7.50 versus consensus of $60.2 billion and $7.18. Meta Platforms expected to top earnings estimates as ad growth remains healthy, says BofA
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also encouraged by reports that Meta could monetize its AI buildout more directly, including a potential large-scale computing deal with Anthropic, which could help justify its heavy capex and reduce valuation pressure. Zuckerberg Is Quietly Turning Meta Into A Compute Provider Ahead Of Q2 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s $12 billion financing for new Meta data centers in Texas underscores strong outside confidence in Meta’s AI infrastructure strategy and signals continued investment in future capacity. BlackRock Leads $12 Billion Financing for New Meta Data Centers in Texas
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary around Meta’s expanding AI ambitions and “compute provider” strategy reinforces the bullish AI narrative, but the market is still waiting for proof that the spending will translate into durable returns. Meta's AI Ambitions Keep Expanding. Is META Stock Keeping Up?
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta faces a Tennessee trial over claims Instagram was designed to be addictive, adding headline risk and potential legal overhang for the stock. Meta faces Tennessee trial over allegations Instagram was designed to be addictive
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of temporary Facebook and Instagram outages may add near-term frustration for users and advertisers, though the impact appears more operational than fundamental. Users of Meta's Facebook, Instagram report suffering some outages

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc NASDAQ: META, formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta's core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.

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