Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 3.6% – What’s Next?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price rose 3.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $618.23 and last traded at $615.53. Approximately 5,352,285 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 12,139,596 shares. The stock had previously closed at $594.25.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $596.31 and its 200-day moving average is $555.63. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 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 given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. This represents a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.54, for a total value of $547,108.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 31,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,804,216.70. The trade was a 2.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 496,174 shares of company stock worth $301,408,499 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.