Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 1.5%

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares rose 1.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $521.70 and last traded at $519.52. Approximately 3,593,802 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 15,716,281 shares. The stock had previously closed at $511.83.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on META. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $577.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The company has a 50-day moving average of $505.13 and a 200-day moving average of $495.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.05, for a total value of $1,029,156.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $126,765,650. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,054 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.05, for a total value of $1,029,156.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $126,765,650. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at $6,315,852.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 357,574 shares of company stock valued at $185,587,773. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after purchasing an additional 244,803 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after buying an additional 1,083,719 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $11,285,855,000. 79.91% of the stock is 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.