Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.53 Per Share

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 13th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.525 per share by the social networking company on Wednesday, March 26th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a 5.0% increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

Meta Platforms has a payout ratio of 7.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Meta Platforms to earn $30.21 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.10 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 7.0%.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $605.71 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $657.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $601.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.32, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.00, for a total value of $593,124.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,945 shares in the company, valued at $21,860,580. This represents a 2.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.56, for a total value of $260,008.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 18,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,546,130.40. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 725,081 shares of company stock valued at $472,702,625 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Meta Platforms stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.6% of Brighton Jones LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $20,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on META shares. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

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.