Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 0.3% - Time to Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report)'s stock price rose 0.3% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $557.77 and last traded at $544.97. Approximately 4,139,923 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 14,736,613 shares. The stock had previously closed at $543.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $615.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $820.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $684.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The business's 50-day moving average price is $612.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $607.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 379,901 shares of company stock worth $260,806,516. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.