Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 0.4% – What’s Next?

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) rose 0.4% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $568.88 and last traded at $565.79. Approximately 2,153,861 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 15,072,323 shares. The stock had previously closed at $563.69.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $643.00 to $811.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $621.63.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.93, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $551.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $510.76.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 250,817 shares of company stock valued at $132,547,715 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.7% in the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 822 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $471,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 10,151 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,811,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. S.A. Mason LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.7% during the third quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,545 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $884,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,444 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,406,000 after acquiring an additional 1,665 shares during the period. Finally, Solidarity Wealth LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. Solidarity Wealth LLC now owns 9,685 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,544,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.