Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 0.2% – Still a Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price was up 0.2% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $688.65 and last traded at $675.09. Approximately 5,003,000 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 13,613,732 shares. The stock had previously closed at $673.70.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price objective (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $653.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $596.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total transaction of $238,503.37. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 19,166 shares in the company, valued at $11,068,173.34. This trade represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total value of $535,542.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,477,780.40. This trade represents a 2.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 813,951 shares of company stock worth $526,565,232 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.