Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading 2.1% Higher After Dividend Announcement

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) was up 2.1% during mid-day trading on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as $624.31 and last traded at $621.71. Approximately 6,407,204 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average daily volume of 14,796,893 shares. The stock had previously closed at $608.93.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $578.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $531.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This trade represents a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 142,160 shares of company stock worth $81,611,223. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. 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.