Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 1.4%

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded down 1.4% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $517.40 and last traded at $517.49. 1,858,339 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 15,655,307 shares. The stock had previously closed at $524.62.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock. TD Securities raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Citigroup upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $577.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.3 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $505.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $496.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.89, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $520.57, for a total transaction of $214,995.41. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 13,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,863,715.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.57, for a total value of $214,995.41. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 13,185 shares in the company, valued at $6,863,715.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,054 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.05, for a total transaction of $1,029,156.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $126,765,650. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 357,987 shares of company stock valued at $185,802,769. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after purchasing an additional 244,803 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after buying an additional 1,083,719 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 14,569,705 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,157,093,000 after buying an additional 344,384 shares in the last quarter. 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.