Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 0.3%

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded up 0.3% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $523.63 and last traded at $522.47. 1,798,643 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 16,093,926 shares. The stock had previously closed at $521.12.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on META shares. Truist Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 target price for the company. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $574.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.01, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $503.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $491.66.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total value of $483,224.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,940 shares in the company, valued at $19,724,113. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 630,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $300,466,976.03. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total transaction of $483,224.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,940 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,724,113. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 434,477 shares of company stock valued at $220,437,187. Corporate 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 company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $11,285,855,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440,229 shares during the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,104,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,733,731,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748,620 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently 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.