Meta Platforms Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders bought 495,861 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 6% compared to the typical volume of 466,793 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $752.00 to $664.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wedbush lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $696.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 4.3 %

META stock opened at $597.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $575.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $603.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.