Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading 8.8% Higher – What’s Next?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price rose 8.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $628.28 and last traded at $612.91. 45,078,607 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 172% from the average session volume of 16,566,590 shares. The stock had previously closed at $563.29.

Key Meta Platforms News

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Meta is considering turning surplus AI infrastructure into a cloud business, which could generate near-term revenue from investments already made in AI. Bloomberg report referenced in multiple articles
• Positive Sentiment: The move would diversify Meta’s business mix and reduce reliance on advertising, while putting it in competition with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Investopedia article
• Positive Sentiment: Traders also showed bullish positioning, with unusually heavy call-option activity suggesting expectations for further upside. Options trading activity source
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also announced personnel changes, naming Alex Schultz its first chief data officer and promoting Denise Moreno to chief marketing officer, moves aimed at improving AI-driven analytics and marketing execution. Yahoo Finance article
• Negative Sentiment: Separately, Meta lost a bid to dismiss a multi-state lawsuit alleging Facebook and Instagram are addictive to children, keeping a legal overhang in place. Benzinga article

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on META. Arete Research set a $735.00 target price on Meta Platforms and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $725.00 price target (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $840.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 8.8%

The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $607.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $629.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $6.43 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.63%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 140 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $84,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,707,600. This trade represents a 1.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 39,013 shares of company stock worth $24,115,999 over the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. RHL Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Axiom Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Bayban boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 100.0% during the first quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.