Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 0.1% – Here’s What Happened

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price rose 0.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $631.15 and last traded at $620.64. Approximately 3,063,042 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 14,691,981 shares. The stock had previously closed at $619.85.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $638.00.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $585.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $540.45.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $622.24, for a total value of $22,351,483.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total transaction of $559,290.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 35,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,019,340. The trade was a 2.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 249,018 shares of company stock valued at $148,605,500 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 29.7% during the second quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 26,168 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,194,000 after buying an additional 5,999 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $955,000. Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.8% in the second quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 9,274 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,285,000 after acquiring an additional 824 shares during the period. Nadler Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 5.4% in the second quarter. Nadler Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,471 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,254,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GFG Capital LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the second quarter. GFG Capital LLC now owns 26,826 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,526,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.