VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Invests $425.73 Million in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 576,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $425,727,000. Meta Platforms comprises 2.9% of VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 137.2% during the 1st quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC now owns 1,167 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $673,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 221,689 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $127,773,000 after purchasing an additional 2,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 58,838 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,912,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.37, for a total transaction of $382,176.03. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 28,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,820,861.75. The trade was a 1.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $721.30, for a total transaction of $372,912.10. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 8,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,113,017.50. This represents a 5.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 213,146 shares of company stock valued at $164,208,279. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $751.44 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $741.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $694.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.21, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.16 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on META. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $829.66.

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.