Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 0.4% – Time to Sell?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares traded down 0.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $574.20 and last traded at $577.66. 2,577,593 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 15,014,769 shares. The stock had previously closed at $580.00.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 4.0 %

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $568.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $519.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.10, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors 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 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at approximately $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total value of $459,405.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,197,043.71. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 158,200 shares of company stock valued at $84,533,106. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $36,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.