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

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded up 0.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $557.77 and last traded at $544.97. 4,139,923 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 14,736,613 shares. The stock had previously closed at $543.57.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $698.40.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.15, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $628.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $609.40.

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. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total value of $500,462.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,943,062.60. This trade represents a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 451,119 shares of company stock valued at $304,709,239. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after purchasing an additional 110,040 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.