Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) shot up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $506.39 and last traded at $503.53. 4,779,310 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 14,779,488 shares. The stock had previously closed at $502.31.
Analyst Ratings Changes
META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $681.67.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.4 %
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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $608.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $607.21. The company has a market cap of $1.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms
In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $255,234.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 16,275 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,057,950. This trade represents a 2.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total value of $22,515,282.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 379,901 shares of company stock worth $260,806,516. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms
Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after acquiring an additional 204,412 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 3,219 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 2,853 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.5% in the third quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 17,048 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $9,704,000 after buying an additional 1,480 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
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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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