Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s 6th Largest Position

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 180,813 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 7,847 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.5% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $105,868,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 796,712 shares of company stock valued at $517,503,564. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $655.05 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $654.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $597.91. The company has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91.

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, beating 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 business posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

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.