Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Sells 39 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 39 shares during the period. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,116,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 53.6% during the 1st 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 owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on META. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $664.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $706.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.00, for a total transaction of $363,819.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at $20,457,283. This trade represents a 1.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,802 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.96, for a total transaction of $5,476,691.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,550,434.92. The trade was a 6.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 84,672 shares of company stock valued at $55,455,647 over the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $697.23 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $610.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $621.38.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The company’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

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.