Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:METAGet Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 402,968 call options on the company. This is an increase of 16% compared to the average volume of 346,216 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on META. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $654.20.

View Our Latest Stock Report on Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ META opened at $647.49 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $601.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $560.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $385.66 and a 52 week high of $652.00.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:METAGet Free Report) 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. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,131 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $652,767.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $709,329.64. This represents a 47.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,776,261.56. This trade represents a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Meta Platforms

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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.

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