Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 3.5% – What’s Next?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) rose 3.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $614.20 and last traded at $613.65. Approximately 14,907,164 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 0% from the average daily volume of 14,867,434 shares. The stock had previously closed at $592.83.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.5 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $575.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $528.92. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total transaction of $11,150,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 338,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $188,810,838.24. The trade was a 5.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $215,586.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 13,598 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,098,156. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 105,334 shares of company stock valued at $59,210,941. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after buying an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,754,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,911,029,000 after buying an additional 208,677 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.