Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Utah Retirement Systems' 5th Largest Position

Utah Retirement Systems grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 363,544 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 846 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.3% of Utah Retirement Systems' investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Utah Retirement Systems' holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $212,859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Roth Capital lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $688.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.17, for a total value of $502,101.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,577 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,488,983.09. This represents a 3.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 237,017 shares of company stock valued at $167,207,524 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 4.3 %

META traded up $24.81 on Friday, hitting $597.02. The company had a trading volume of 24,702,127 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,463,475. The company's fifty day moving average price is $576.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $603.54. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $740.91. 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 cap of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Meta Platforms 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.