Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Climb 2.4% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded up 2.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday. The company traded as high as $624.84 and last traded at $621.03. Approximately 13,494,447 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 25% from the average session volume of 18,054,908 shares. The stock had previously closed at $606.73.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s bond sale attracted orders of as much as $58 billion, signaling strong investor appetite. The company is reportedly targeting $20 billion to $25 billion in funding, split between U.S. dollar and euro debt. The demand helps demonstrate Meta’s access to capital as it funds AI infrastructure and model development. Article: Meta stock rises as $20B bond sale attracts strong investor demand
• Neutral Sentiment: The debt raise is intended to support Meta’s growing AI spending. While investment could strengthen its technology and future business, the return on that spending remains uncertain. Article: Meta seeks to raise up to $25 billion in debt sale as AI spending jumps
• Negative Sentiment: The large borrowing underscores concerns that AI infrastructure costs may weigh on cash flow and increase financial obligations before the investments generate sufficient returns. Article: Meta and Alphabet Face Serious Market Pressure Over Capex in Q4
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta’s AI crawler overwhelmed a small business website could add to reputational and policy scrutiny around its data collection practices. Meta has delayed proposed business terms after criticism, but the controversy remains a potential risk. Article: An artist says Meta’s bots overwhelmed her website

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on META. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $945.00 target price (down from $995.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. China Renaissance lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 31st. Yorkville Ives began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $900.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $833.12.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $671.17 and its 200-day moving average is $632.13.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The social networking company reported $7.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.54 by $0.86. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 30.73% and a net margin of 31.15%. The business had revenue of $64.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $7.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Monday, September 21st were issued a dividend of $0.5250 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.16%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,848 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total value of $4,379,184.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 828 shares in the company, valued at $462,024. The trade was a 90.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 27,474 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $777.44, for a total value of $21,359,386.56. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 149,515 shares of company stock worth $102,183,520 in the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Cincinnati Insurance Co. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,523,000. Ethos Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.4% in the third quarter. Ethos Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,167 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,747,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.2% during the third quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,536,844 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,114,489,000 after purchasing an additional 179,071 shares during the last quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.9% during the third quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC now owns 8,860 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,425,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.1% during the third quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 655,212 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $475,147,000 after purchasing an additional 48,894 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc is a technology company that develops social networking, messaging, virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence products. The company’s principal platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Threads, which enable users to connect, communicate, share content, and discover products and services.

Meta also operates Reality Labs, its division focused on virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies. Reality Labs develops products such as Meta Quest virtual reality headsets and related software and experiences, along with research and hardware intended to support immersive computing.