Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 1.3% – Time to Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares were up 1.3% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $613.87 and last traded at $605.59. Approximately 6,528,572 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 52% from the average daily volume of 13,643,034 shares. The stock had previously closed at $597.99.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on META. Benchmark upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.8 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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 fifty day moving average is $657.04 and its 200-day moving average is $601.41.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.56, for a total value of $260,008.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 18,340 shares in the company, valued at $11,546,130.40. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 761,002 shares of company stock worth $495,449,598 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Cozad Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,785 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $14,188,000 after buying an additional 1,575 shares during the period. BNC Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. BNC Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,302 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,187,000 after buying an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 3,432 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,965,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,928,185,000 after acquiring an additional 204,412 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.