Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 1.1% – Still a Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares rose 1.1% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $585.12 and last traded at $584.24. Approximately 2,499,433 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 14,998,524 shares. The stock had previously closed at $578.16.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on META. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $623.71.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.2 %

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $554.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $512.18. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 250,818 shares of company stock valued at $132,569,993. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after acquiring an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 24.7% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,733,731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,748,620 shares during the period. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $595,152,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

About Meta Platforms

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.