Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 1.1% After Dividend Announcement

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price was up 1.1% during trading on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as $732.90 and last traded at $736.91. Approximately 4,678,672 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 15,167,462 shares. The stock had previously closed at $728.56.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on META shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $638.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $582.68. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $721.69, for a total transaction of $14,194,198.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,644 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.55, for a total transaction of $10,320,386.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,888,979.95. The trade was a 28.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 793,070 shares of company stock valued at $504,185,108 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 2,681 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,570,000 after acquiring an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 55,113 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $32,269,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185 shares during the last quarter. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $1,302,000. South Plains Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $1,270,000. Finally, Palestra Capital Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Palestra Capital Management LLC now owns 438,062 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $256,490,000 after acquiring an additional 54,061 shares during the last quarter. 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.