Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by New Mexico Educational Retirement Board

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board trimmed its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 110,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,400 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.9% of New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $55,691,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Gallacher Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.4% in the second quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC now owns 2,112 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,065,000 after buying an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.9% in the 2nd quarter. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,841,000 after purchasing an additional 1,228 shares in the last quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,310 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,173,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Finally, Chris Bulman Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $240,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $577.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $511.83 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $544.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.40, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $505.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $494.86.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total transaction of $221,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 14,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,744,534.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,034,122.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total transaction of $221,747.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 14,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,744,534.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 373,371 shares of company stock valued at $193,535,153 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by 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.