Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 0.9% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded down 0.9% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $571.04 and last traded at $571.38. 2,402,900 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 15,143,795 shares. The stock had previously closed at $576.47.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $643.00 to $811.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 price target on the stock. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $585.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $619.20.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $548.79 and a 200-day moving average of $509.61.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $190,756.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,559 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,817. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $190,756.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,817. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 250,324 shares of company stock valued at $132,218,368. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gradient Investments LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,600,000 after purchasing an additional 5,953 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 6,101,501 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,962,767,000 after buying an additional 748,076 shares in the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 59.0% in the first quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $802,000 after buying an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 26.5% in the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $846,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lincoln National Corp grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.8% during the first quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 34,790 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,894,000 after acquiring an additional 2,504 shares during the last quarter. 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.