Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) To Go Ex-Dividend on September 16th

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 5th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the social networking company on Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th.

Meta Platforms has a payout ratio of 8.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Meta Platforms to earn $24.07 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 8.3%.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $500.27 on Friday. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $544.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $505.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $494.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 21.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on META shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $576.66.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total transaction of $470,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,135,440. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total value of $470,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,722 shares in the company, valued at $20,135,440. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $2,663,825.32. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,315,852.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 390,977 shares of company stock worth $202,384,548. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.