Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading 3.4% Higher Following Dividend Announcement

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) rose 3.4% on Thursday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $676.10 and last traded at $661.53. Approximately 29,674,994 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 91% from the average daily volume of 15,534,624 shares. The stock had previously closed at $639.60.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on META. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $825.00 target price (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Arete Research set a $718.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $819.43.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average of $676.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $706.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.03 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total transaction of $4,190,037.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 88,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,857,980.20. This trade represents a 7.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total transaction of $6,935,793.90. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,432,843.65. This trade represents a 82.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,440 shares of company stock worth $26,337,795. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $44,000. 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.