Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 2.1% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shot up 2.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $606.52 and last traded at $602.23. 4,484,354 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 13,636,121 shares. The stock had previously closed at $590.12.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $657.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $602.00.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid 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 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $547,995.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,649,280. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 690,689 shares of company stock valued at $451,269,409 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of META. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $459,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. 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.