Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) shares traded up 0.2% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $624.97 and last traded at $612.77. 17,239,131 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 59% from the average session volume of 10,812,479 shares. The stock had previously closed at $611.30.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
META has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Guggenheim upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Raymond James reissued a "strong-buy" rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research 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 issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $650.05.
Get Our Latest Report on META
Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.2 %
The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.86, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. The company's 50 day moving average price is $596.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $557.04.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 9.42%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms
In other Meta Platforms news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total value of $520,103.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 32,387 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders have sold 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms
Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after buying an additional 263,063 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 valued at $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $4,101,602,000 after acquiring an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
About Meta Platforms
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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