Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 2.4% – Still a Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price shot 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 trading, a decline of 25% from the average session volume of 18,054,908 shares. The stock had previously closed at $606.73.

Trending Headlines about 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 Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $800.00 price target (down from $850.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Arete Research boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $735.00 to $806.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $833.12.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $671.17 and a 200-day moving average of $632.13. The firm has a market cap of $1.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $6.54 by $0.86. The business had revenue of $64.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 31.15% and a return on equity of 30.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $7.25 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 21st were paid a $0.5250 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 21st. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 7.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Christopher Cox sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $712.76, for a total transaction of $28,510,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 184,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $131,515,624.16. This represents a 17.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 3,240 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.06, for a total transaction of $2,002,514.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,271 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,875,854.26. This trade represents a 34.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 149,515 shares of company stock worth $102,183,520. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Advantage Trust Co purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Philadelphia Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Horizons Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Axiom Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Schuylkill Financial LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.