Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 2.1% After Dividend Announcement

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price rose 2.1% during trading on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $624.31 and last traded at $621.71. Approximately 6,407,204 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average daily volume of 14,796,893 shares. The stock had previously closed at $608.93.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 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 assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $578.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $531.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The company has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.28, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total value of $538,475.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,535 shares in the company, valued at $21,738,325. The trade was a 2.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 142,160 shares of company stock worth $81,611,223 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $408,000. Oriental Harbor Investment Fund bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $95,734,000. American Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 112.1% in the 3rd quarter. American Trust now owns 6,930 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,967,000 after acquiring an additional 3,663 shares in the last quarter. Old North State Trust LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 1,290 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $738,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,101,602,000 after purchasing an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.