Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 2.2% - Here's Why

Key Points

• Meta Platforms' shares increased by 2.2% to $733.51, with a trading volume of over 12 million shares, although this marks a 15% decline from its average session volume.
• Several analysts have upgraded their price targets for Meta, with DA Davidson setting a new target price of $825 and Raymond James increasing theirs to $900, indicating strong buy sentiment.
• Meta recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, yielding approximately 0.3%, and had a net margin of 39.99% in its latest earnings report, which showed revenue growth of 21.6% year-over-year.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) shot up 2.2% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $733.51 and last traded at $733.51. 12,361,237 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 14,578,863 shares. The stock had previously closed at $717.84.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on META. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $980.00 price objective (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $830.68.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.20. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $753.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $678.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.16 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total value of $9,062,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,394,225. This trade represents a 86.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider 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 90 days, insiders have sold 214,182 shares of company stock valued at $164,946,219. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the 2nd 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 stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $6,212,506,000 after purchasing an additional 8,405,558 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $2,990,544,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 712.2% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,462,589,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225,186 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

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