Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 0% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) were down 0% on Friday . The company traded as low as $691.84 and last traded at $694.75. Approximately 5,091,991 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 15,410,775 shares. The stock had previously closed at $694.84.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $647.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $591.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 previous year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 810,217 shares of company stock valued at $523,808,864 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $19,949,512,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,365,820,000 after acquiring an additional 4,126,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,243,603,000. 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.