Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 0.6% – What’s Next?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shot up 0.6% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $557.88 and last traded at $557.57. 4,740,951 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 15,014,267 shares. The stock had previously closed at $554.08.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on META shares. Barclays boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.3 %

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $568.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $521.17. The company has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total transaction of $459,405.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,197,043.71. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total transaction of $11,150,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 338,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $188,810,838.24. This trade represents a 5.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 141,498 shares of company stock worth $75,732,154. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after buying an additional 244,803 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after acquiring an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.