Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Increases Dividend to $0.53 Per Share

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 13th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.525 per share by the social networking company on Wednesday, March 26th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

Meta Platforms has a dividend payout ratio of 7.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Meta Platforms to earn $30.19 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.6%.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $8.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $736.67. 16,880,644 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,161,075. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $638.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $583.52. The company has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20.

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Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $717.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. This trade represents a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 793,070 shares of company stock worth $504,185,108 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% 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.