Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 0.3%

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price traded up 0.3% on Friday . The company traded as high as $563.86 and last traded at $561.05. 4,441,563 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 15,584,706 shares. The stock had previously closed at $559.10.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. TD Cowen upped 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. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $577.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $505.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $496.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.23, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 9,760 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $502.87, for a total value of $4,908,011.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 247,915 shares in the company, valued at $124,669,016.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 9,760 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $502.87, for a total transaction of $4,908,011.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 247,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $124,669,016.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 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 $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 356,426 shares of company stock worth $185,053,425. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other 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.