Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading 0.1% Higher – Time to Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price traded up 0.1% on Friday . The company traded as high as $598.51 and last traded at $596.22. 5,566,581 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 14,690,207 shares. The stock had previously closed at $595.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $638.00.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.7 %

The company has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $585.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $541.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 10,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $569.93, for a total transaction of $5,699,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 328,662 shares in the company, valued at $187,314,333.66. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 287,879 shares of company stock valued at $174,127,704 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 9.5% during the second quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC now owns 4,945 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,493,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the period. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,375,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. West Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 242.7% during the 2nd quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 1,645 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $829,000 after buying an additional 1,165 shares during the period. ACT Advisors LLC. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.0% during the 2nd quarter. ACT Advisors LLC. now owns 1,006 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $507,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 4,048 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,041,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Meta Platforms

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.