Employees Retirement System of Texas Purchases 60,716 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Employees Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 16.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 435,738 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 60,716 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 2.6% of Employees Retirement System of Texas’ portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $321,614,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $142,149,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,568 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $37,902,948,000 after purchasing an additional 682,768 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,184,163,000 after purchasing an additional 400,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,977,361,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255,546 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.8%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $673.42 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $673.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $706.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson set a $825.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $925.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $950.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $819.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $429,501.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,570,306. This trade represents a 10.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total transaction of $6,935,793.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,432,843.65. The trade was a 82.88% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,959 shares of company stock worth $26,671,107. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.