Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 1.4% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded down 1.4% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $599.82 and last traded at $599.00. 3,800,259 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 13,571,461 shares. The stock had previously closed at $607.60.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank upped their price objective 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. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating 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 issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.7 %

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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $656.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $604.84. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 last year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 10,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $601.54, for a total transaction of $6,075,554.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 631,415 shares of company stock valued at $414,365,524. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. 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.