Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) shot up 2.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $531.50 and last traded at $531.13. 3,962,093 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 14,764,329 shares. The stock had previously closed at $520.27.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $655.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $624.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $685.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $628.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Two investment 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $679.02.
Read Our Latest Research Report on META
Meta Platforms Price Performance
The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $587.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $604.53.
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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.59, for a total value of $259,194.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,862 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,954,832.58. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total transaction of $453,012.27. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,525,441.26. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 308,068 shares of company stock worth $214,968,924. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms
Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Valley Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,743,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $960,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,097,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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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