Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading 0.2% Higher – What’s Next?

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) were up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $688.65 and last traded at $675.09. Approximately 5,003,000 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 13,613,732 shares. The stock had previously closed at $673.70.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.3 %

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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.52, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $650.26 and a 200-day moving average of $594.62.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total transaction of $238,503.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,166 shares in the company, valued at $11,068,173.34. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 3,523 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.10, for a total transaction of $2,469,975.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 813,030 shares of company stock valued at $525,952,077. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.