Strs Ohio Sells 14,839 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Strs Ohio lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 802,943 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 14,839 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.8% of Strs Ohio’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $459,388,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 25.9% during the 1st quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $648,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 96,216 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,048,000 after acquiring an additional 2,294 shares during the last quarter. Livet Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 18.6% in the first quarter. Livet Wealth LLC now owns 1,090 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $624,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.6% during the first quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 142,669 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $81,625,000 after purchasing an additional 8,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GPM Growth Investors Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 5.2% during the first quarter. GPM Growth Investors Inc. now owns 9,407 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,382,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $1,015.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $760.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.64.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total value of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total transaction of $1,748,612.10. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 39,513 shares of company stock worth $24,419,874 over the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Meta Platforms News

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched Muse Image, a new AI image-generation tool inside Meta AI for consumers and businesses. The rollout could help increase engagement across Instagram, WhatsApp and other apps, while giving advertisers and creators a new reason to use Meta’s ecosystem. Meta expands generative AI tools with Muse Image rollout
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank upgraded Meta from hold to buy, adding to bullish sentiment around the stock. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Raised to “Buy” at Erste Group Bank
• Positive Sentiment: Truist Securities also reiterated a Buy view and an $840 price target, reinforcing the case that Wall Street still sees meaningful upside in META.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $615.58 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The company has a fifty day moving average of $600.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $627.42.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.43 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.