Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 2.1% – Time to Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price was up 2.1% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $606.52 and last traded at $602.23. Approximately 4,484,354 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 13,636,121 shares. The stock had previously closed at $590.12.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on META shares. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.9 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $658.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $603.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.56, for a total transaction of $260,008.28. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 18,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,546,130.40. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 690,689 shares of company stock valued at $451,269,409 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,365,820,000 after acquiring an additional 4,126,190 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. 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.