Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Sets New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as $588.62 and last traded at $585.22, with a volume of 1623564 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $582.77.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $563.00 to $630.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $522.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $598.08.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $524.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $501.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 300,228 shares of company stock valued at $158,005,260. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after acquiring an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,104,550 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,733,731,000 after buying an additional 2,748,620 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $595,152,000. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at $515,383,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.