Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 3.6% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded up 3.6% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $618.23 and last traded at $615.53. 5,352,285 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 12,139,596 shares. The stock had previously closed at $594.25.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 25th. Two equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.5 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.97, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $595.02 and a 200 day moving average of $554.81. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total value of $239,808.45. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,456,828. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total transaction of $520,103.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,612,808.90. The trade was a 2.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 423,427 shares of company stock worth $256,996,450. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.