Employees Retirement System of Texas Has $246.80 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Employees Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 421,520 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,229 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.1% of Employees Retirement System of Texas' holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Employees Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $246,804,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Valley Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on META shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META traded up $15.26 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $642.32. The company had a trading volume of 9,473,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,474,756. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $575.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $609.55. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 308,686 shares in the company, valued at $209,199,589.06. This represents a 6.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 75,628 shares of company stock worth $48,380,586 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

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.