Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. Purchases 256 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 16.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,813 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,045,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $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 valued at approximately $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 53.6% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $547,995.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,649,280. This represents a 2.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total transaction of $370,272.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,054 shares in the company, valued at $4,904,886. This trade represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,171 shares of company stock worth $35,163,457 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $697.71 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $587.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $615.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.71 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $624.00 to $676.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $702.48.

Meta Platforms 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.