Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $237.70 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 15.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 412,416 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 56,212 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.1% of Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $237,698,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Csenge Advisory Group raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,498,000 after buying an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $99,735,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850 shares during the period. Skye Global Management LP increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 130.9% in the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $44,616,000 after acquiring an additional 43,200 shares during the period. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the first quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, JMG Financial Group Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $284,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 153,473 shares of company stock valued at $105,805,440. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $752.33.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $2.12 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $712.68. The stock had a trading volume of 8,253,539 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,556,341. The company has a market capitalization of $1.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $692.48 and a 200-day moving average of $641.57. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $450.80 and a 12-month high of $747.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

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.