Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 0% – Here’s Why

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price dropped 0% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $691.84 and last traded at $694.75. Approximately 5,091,991 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 15,410,775 shares. The stock had previously closed at $694.84.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on META. Bank of America boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6 %

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $647.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $591.24. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.36%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $703.21, for a total value of $13,830,734.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. The trade was a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 810,217 shares of company stock valued at $523,808,864 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,365,820,000 after purchasing an additional 4,126,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,243,603,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.