Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) was up 3.4% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $622.54 and last traded at $616.71. Approximately 6,660,177 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 59% from the average daily volume of 16,240,784 shares. The stock had previously closed at $596.25.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $718.31.
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Meta Platforms Price Performance
The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.30, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $656.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $608.02.
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, 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.78%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $614.97, for a total value of $373,901.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,205,164.86. This represents a 8.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 586,213 shares of company stock worth $387,084,349. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,658,713,000 after buying an additional 6,240,810 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $1,162,918,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
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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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