McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. Acquires 1,226 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 8.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,013 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,226 shares during the quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,653,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 53.6% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $0.78 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $693.36. 7,303,916 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,503,798. 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 company has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $597.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $617.62. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. The company's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total transaction of $453,012.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,525,441.26. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 86,201 shares of company stock valued at $56,377,837. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Susquehanna reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $704.26.

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.