Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 14th

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 13th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.525 per share by the social networking company on Wednesday, March 26th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a 5.0% increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

Meta Platforms has a payout ratio of 7.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Meta Platforms to earn $30.21 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.10 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 7.0%.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $605.71 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $657.45 and its 200-day moving average is $601.96.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS 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 last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. The trade was a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total value of $535,542.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,477,780.40. The trade was a 2.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 725,081 shares of company stock worth $472,702,625. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Meta Platforms stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 0.6% of Brighton Jones LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $20,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

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.