Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 1.1% – What’s Next?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares rose 1.1% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $585.12 and last traded at $584.24. Approximately 2,499,433 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 14,998,524 shares. The stock had previously closed at $578.16.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $647.00 to $652.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $623.71.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business’s 50 day moving average is $554.49 and its 200 day moving average is $512.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.99, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The trade was a 0.00 % 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 150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 250,818 shares of company stock worth $132,569,993 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $46,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.