Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.50

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 5th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the social networking company on Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%.

Meta Platforms has a dividend payout ratio of 8.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Meta Platforms to earn $24.07 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 8.3%.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $4.12 on Thursday, reaching $516.86. 8,587,729 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,882,718. The firm has a market cap of $1.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $279.40 and a 1-year high of $544.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The company’s 50-day moving average is $505.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $493.77.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 21.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $452,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 40,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,280,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $452,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 40,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,280,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 390,072 shares of company stock worth $201,913,948. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on META shares. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $480.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $576.66.

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.