Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 0.4% – Time to Sell?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price dropped 0.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $574.20 and last traded at $577.66. Approximately 2,577,593 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 15,014,769 shares. The stock had previously closed at $580.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued 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 price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $565.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $518.72. The company has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.21, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.21, for a total value of $481,650.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 41,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,053,185.77. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.21, for a total transaction of $481,650.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 41,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,053,185.77. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction of $234,410.54. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 175,807 shares of company stock worth $93,851,617 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during 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 last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after purchasing an additional 244,803 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. 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.