Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading 0.6% Higher – Still a Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price traded up 0.6% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $663.18 and last traded at $662.28. 5,068,065 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 13,612,896 shares. The stock had previously closed at $658.24.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $653.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $596.59. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $665.75, for a total transaction of $613,155.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,212,039.50. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. 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 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.