Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 0.1% – Still a Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price shot up 0.1% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $726.30 and last traded at $726.42. 3,842,659 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 15,238,539 shares. The stock had previously closed at $725.38.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.23, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50-day moving average is $634.08 and its 200 day moving average is $579.77. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,908.60. This represents a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 812,198 shares of company stock valued at $515,102,208 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors 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.