California State Teachers Retirement System Sells 112,536 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

California State Teachers Retirement System lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,426,644 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 112,536 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.3% of California State Teachers Retirement System’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.14% of Meta Platforms worth $2,006,334,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 2,940 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,722,000 after buying an additional 566 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,731,078 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,013,590,000 after acquiring an additional 55,345 shares during the period. III Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 114.8% during the fourth quarter. III Capital Management now owns 8,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,684,000 after purchasing an additional 4,276 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their target price 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. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.0%

NASDAQ:META opened at $640.43 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $571.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $607.61. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month 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 stock has a market cap of $1.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $3,334,383.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 16,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,855,043.68. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $703.21, for a total transaction of $13,830,734.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 98,837 shares of company stock worth $64,758,661 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.