Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 3% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) were up 3% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $603.58 and last traded at $600.29. 17,059,060 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 3% from the average session volume of 16,613,209 shares. The stock had previously closed at $582.90.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta rolled out Muse Image, its first image-generation model from Meta Superintelligence Labs, across Meta AI, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The new tool could increase user engagement and give Meta more ad-targeting and creator monetization opportunities. Meta expands generative AI tools with Muse Image rollout
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank upgraded Meta from hold to buy, reinforcing the view that the stock remains attractive despite recent weakness. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Raised to “Buy” at Erste Group Bank
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to highlight Meta’s strong ads business, heavy free cash flow, and potential to monetize excess AI/data-center capacity, which supports the long-term investment case. A $6.5 Billion Reason to Bet on Meta Platforms Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is also being discussed as a possible entrant into the neocloud/cloud-compute rental market, but that opportunity is still speculative and not yet a confirmed earnings driver. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Just Delivered Fantastic News for Investors
• Negative Sentiment: Meta disclosed that four U.S. states are seeking $1.4 trillion in penalties in a youth-safety trial, creating a very large legal risk that is weighing on sentiment. Meta says US states are seeking $1.4 trillion in penalties in August youth safety trial
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta’s AI progress has “not really accelerated” as expected, plus ongoing scrutiny of its AI glasses and content/privacy issues, may raise concerns about how quickly heavy AI spending will pay off.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling by a Meta director adds a small additional headwind to market sentiment, even though the sale was pre-planned under a 10b5-1 program.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Piper Sandler began coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Bank of America cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $840.64.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.0%

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 firm has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50 day moving average of $600.41 and a 200 day moving average of $627.42.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.43 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total value of $5,589,088.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This trade represents a 41.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,513 shares of company stock valued at $24,419,874. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Victrix Investment Advisors grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 38.1% during the second quarter. Victrix Investment Advisors now owns 9,589 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,401,000 after buying an additional 2,647 shares during the period. Abner Herrman & Brock LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Abner Herrman & Brock LLC now owns 40,269 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $22,683,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the period. Ebert Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 35.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ebert Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,806 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,581,000 after purchasing an additional 729 shares during the period. Aurora Investment Managers LLC. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Aurora Investment Managers LLC. now owns 16,347 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,208,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Green Ridge Wealth Planning LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 8.5% in the second quarter. Green Ridge Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,359 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,892,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. 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.