Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 1.7% – What’s Next?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price shot up 1.7% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $571.80 and last traded at $570.06. 2,771,741 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 15,089,037 shares. The stock had previously closed at $560.68.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $556.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $513.67. The stock has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.85, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,285,234.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 250,040 shares of company stock worth $132,361,588 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Central Valley Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,199,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,595,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 1,906 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,099,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 3,560 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,038,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.