Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Short Interest Update

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 25,190,000 shares, a drop of 14.1% from the December 15th total of 29,330,000 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 12,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Guggenheim upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.9 %

META traded down $5.82 during trading on Thursday, hitting $611.30. 8,337,733 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,833,604. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $595.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $555.25. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $358.61 and a 1 year high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total transaction of $239,808.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,456,828. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.54, for a total value of $547,108.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 31,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,804,216.70. This trade represents a 2.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 496,587 shares of company stock worth $301,648,308. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Charles Schwab Trust Co increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Trust Co now owns 1,289 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $755,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Solidarity Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. Solidarity Wealth LLC now owns 11,685 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,842,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,505 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,467,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 133,222 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $78,002,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Reliant Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $249,000. 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.