Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 1.2% - Time to Sell?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) dropped 1.2% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $588.57 and last traded at $592.04. Approximately 3,658,006 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 14,411,683 shares. The stock had previously closed at $599.27.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on META shares. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $570.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $603.99.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.17, for a total transaction of $502,101.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,488,983.09. This trade represents a 3.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total value of $199,626.14. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,265,707.52. This represents a 8.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 210,357 shares of company stock valued at $148,449,468. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after buying an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after buying an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.