Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading 1% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price was up 1% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $599.25 and last traded at $590.92. Approximately 3,701,141 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 14,821,061 shares. The stock had previously closed at $585.25.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on META shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned 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, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $638.00.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.3 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $586.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $544.32. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 10,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $601.54, for a total value of $6,075,554.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,908.60. This trade represents a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 287,979 shares of company stock worth $174,503,958. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hyman Charles D lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.7% during the second quarter. Hyman Charles D now owns 3,625 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,828,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $486,000. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 101.7% during the second quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP now owns 122,412 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $61,723,000 after acquiring an additional 61,709 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the second quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 868,314 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $437,821,000 after acquiring an additional 4,700 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.0% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,520,149 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $766,489,000 after acquiring an additional 174,893 shares during the last quarter. 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.