Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 1.4% – Should You Sell?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price dropped 1.4% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $599.82 and last traded at $599.00. Approximately 3,800,259 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 13,571,461 shares. The stock had previously closed at $607.60.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.52 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50-day moving average of $658.01 and a 200 day moving average of $603.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. 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 yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 654,355 shares of company stock valued at $428,564,164. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other 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.