Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 0.5% – What’s Next?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price fell 0.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $575.17 and last traded at $581.93. 3,459,256 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 15,038,128 shares. The stock had previously closed at $584.82.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $564.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $518.29.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total transaction of $511,497.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total value of $511,497.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,581 shares in the company, valued at $17,360,833.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 194,714 shares of company stock worth $103,811,069 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 48.8% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,886,000 after buying an additional 16,138 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 22.4% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 67,195 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $32,629,000 after acquiring an additional 12,301 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 541.8% during the first quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 3,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,862,000 after acquiring an additional 3,224 shares during the last quarter. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,428,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonebrook Private Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 3,943 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,915,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.