S. R. Schill & Associates Makes New $212,000 Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

S. R. Schill & Associates purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 367 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $212,000. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.2% of S. R. Schill & Associates' investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fjell Capital LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $334,000. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $20,230,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $112,406,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $13.42 during trading on Friday, hitting $682.35. The company had a trading volume of 22,498,010 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,546,632. The stock has a market cap of $1.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $618.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $623.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on META shares. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $664.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $710.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $614.97, for a total value of $373,901.76. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,205,164.86. This represents a 8.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 1,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 111,031 shares of company stock valued at $73,954,565 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.