Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 0.2% – Here’s What Happened

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares rose 0.2% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $624.97 and last traded at $612.77. Approximately 17,239,131 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 59% from the average daily volume of 10,812,479 shares. The stock had previously closed at $611.30.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

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 business has a fifty day moving average of $596.78 and a 200 day moving average of $557.04. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.86, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19.

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 return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. On average, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.54, for a total transaction of $547,108.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lindenwold Advisors INC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,569,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. 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.