Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) shares traded up 1% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $601.20 and last traded at $598.99. 7,533,341 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 15,010,554 shares. The stock had previously closed at $593.28.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Pivotal Research assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $780.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $621.63.
Meta Platforms Price Performance
The company has a 50 day moving average price of $553.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $511.61. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms
In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,147,531.12. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,034,122.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,147,531.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 251,230 shares of company stock valued at $132,784,843. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms
Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% in 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,733,731,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,582,876,000 after purchasing an additional 342,742 shares in 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.