Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 1.2% – Should You Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price traded up 1.2% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $583.28 and last traded at $583.52. 3,892,745 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 14,226,908 shares. The stock had previously closed at $576.36.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $653.10 and its 200-day moving average is $610.50.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 quarter last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total transaction of $342,322.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,507,676.90. This represents a 8.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total transaction of $643,414.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 27,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,607,740.16. This trade represents a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 584,113 shares of company stock valued at $385,838,234 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,908,382,000 after acquiring an additional 110,040 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.