Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 2.2% - Time to Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 2.2% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $662.88 and last traded at $661.55. 11,795,780 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 10% from the average session volume of 13,043,324 shares. The stock had previously closed at $647.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on META shares. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $730.00 to $720.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.9 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $604.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $561.55.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total value of $524,990.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 31,482 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. This trade represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 603,937 shares of company stock worth $369,191,604. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other 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.