S. R. Schill & Associates Purchases New Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

S. R. Schill & Associates purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 580 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 80.4% in the 4th quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 price target on the stock. Wolfe Research cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $499.49 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $479.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $445.53. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $274.38 and a 12-month high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $507.00, for a total transaction of $248,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,049 shares in the company, valued at $4,587,843. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 576 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total transaction of $268,606.08. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,819,124.11. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $507.00, for a total value of $248,430.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,049 shares in the company, valued at $4,587,843. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 391,071 shares of company stock worth $192,834,857 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.