Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report)'s share price was down 2.4% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $756.56 and last traded at $766.77. Approximately 8,940,381 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 42% from the average daily volume of 15,283,256 shares. The stock had previously closed at $785.23.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Benchmark upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $822.41.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.3%
The company has a market capitalization of $1.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The company has a 50-day moving average of $724.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $655.21.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.60%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total value of $46,557,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 268,251 shares of company stock valued at $199,981,827. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms
A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $23,155,393,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $6,212,506,000 after purchasing an additional 8,405,558 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,990,544,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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