Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 3.4% After Dividend Announcement

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price traded up 3.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $676.10 and last traded at $661.53. 29,674,994 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 91% from the average session volume of 15,534,624 shares. The stock had previously closed at $639.60.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $870.00 price objective (down previously from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $819.43.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $674.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $705.81.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.03 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $429,501.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,570,306. This trade represents a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total value of $4,190,037.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 88,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,857,980.20. This represents a 7.22% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 41,959 shares of company stock worth $26,671,107 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Smart Money Group LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 2,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,182,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the period. Aspire Growth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 662 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waddell & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the first quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,446,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.