Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 1.3% – Time to Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price traded up 1.3% on Monday . The company traded as high as $664.54 and last traded at $658.79. 12,008,543 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 7% from the average session volume of 12,865,194 shares. The stock had previously closed at $650.41.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and set a $870.00 target price (down previously from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $822.22.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.3%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.10, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s fifty day moving average is $647.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $705.14.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.03 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid 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 was Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.28%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $658.14, for a total value of $340,258.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,200 shares in the company, valued at $8,029,308. This represents a 4.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total transaction of $341,860.11. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 28,658 shares in the company, valued at $18,876,738.02. This trade represents a 1.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,557 shares of company stock worth $25,905,353. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after buying an additional 1,532,568 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $64,158,971,000 after buying an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after buying an additional 59,766,000 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $37,902,948,000 after acquiring an additional 682,768 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,247,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,823,375,000 after purchasing an additional 278,180 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.