Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 1.7% - Here's Why

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) rose 1.7% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $574.74 and last traded at $574.52. Approximately 3,330,214 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 14,911,064 shares. The stock had previously closed at $565.11.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.5 %

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $573.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $525.35. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,975 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.36, for a total value of $4,117,971.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 531,884 shares in the company, valued at $274,643,622.24. This trade represents a 1.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 118,631 shares of company stock valued at $66,051,838 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Institutional investors 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.