Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 7,847 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 180,813 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 7,847 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.5% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $105,868,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,946 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $621.84, for a total value of $14,268,740.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,318,548.24. The trade was a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 796,712 shares of company stock valued at $517,503,564 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $655.05 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $654.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $597.91. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders 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 is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Pivotal Research upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank lifted 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

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.