Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 0.4% - What's Next?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 0.4% on Monday . The company traded as high as $602.50 and last traded at $599.41. 4,630,220 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 14,418,611 shares. The stock had previously closed at $597.02.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Susquehanna reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Moffett Nathanson raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.9 %

The company's fifty day moving average is $569.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $604.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.77, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,795 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $715.82, for a total value of $25,622,776.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $592.52, for a total transaction of $545,710.92. Following the sale, the insider now owns 25,656 shares in the company, valued at $15,201,693.12. This represents a 3.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 155,689 shares of company stock valued at $109,097,842 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2,782.1% during the first quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 49,629 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $28,604,000 after acquiring an additional 47,907 shares during the last quarter. Keb Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Keb Asset Management LLC now owns 4,416 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,545,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Waycross Partners LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Waycross Partners LLC now owns 83,997 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $48,413,000 after purchasing an additional 15,052 shares during the last quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.1% in the first quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. now owns 3,281 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,891,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 8,234,238 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $4,745,885,000 after buying an additional 240,344 shares during the last quarter. 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.