Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 0.7% - Time to Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) shares shot up 0.7% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $596.44 and last traded at $591.21. 3,406,116 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 14,394,117 shares. The stock had previously closed at $587.31.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on META shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $624.00 to $676.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $572.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $604.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend 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 (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 209,749 shares of company stock valued at $148,089,532 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in 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 buying an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after buying an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by 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.

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