Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 1.2% – Time to Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price shot up 1.2% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $592.41 and last traded at $593.11. 6,868,469 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 13,699,921 shares. The stock had previously closed at $586.00.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on META shares. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $655.77 and its 200-day moving average is $604.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.46, for a total value of $21,712,807.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $590.00, for a total transaction of $243,670.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,927 shares in the company, valued at $10,576,930. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 622,844 shares of company stock valued at $409,212,161 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $459,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $866,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. 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.