Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 43,700 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 19.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 182,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 43,700 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 2.0% of Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $106,563,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Roth Mkm increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $717.90.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This trade represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $721.69, for a total transaction of $14,194,198.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 751,033 shares of company stock valued at $480,911,671. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $736.67 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $641.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $585.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.36%.

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.