Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 6% – Should You Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price shot up 6% on Friday . The company traded as high as $677.86 and last traded at $669.21. Approximately 40,175,382 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 138% from the average daily volume of 16,869,180 shares. The stock had previously closed at $631.48.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s new AI products and planned in-house chip production are fueling optimism that the company can turn its huge AI spending into new revenue and lower infrastructure costs. Meta to put AI chip into production in September as it looks to double computing capacity, memo shows
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also reacting to Meta’s broader AI monetization push, including developer access to Muse Spark 1.1 and aggressive pricing meant to compete with OpenAI and Anthropic. Meta enters the crowded AI coding battle with Muse Spark 1.1
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary has turned more constructive, with analysts and market watchers saying Meta’s AI strategy and compute expansion may support further upside after a weak first half. Meta’s stock heads for best week since early 2024 as optimism builds around AI strategy
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is also drawing attention for plans to build a large AI data center in Alberta, which supports long-term capacity growth but adds to near-term capital spending. Meta to build C$13 billion Alberta data center, its first in Canada
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk is weighing on sentiment after the European Union said Facebook and Instagram may violate digital rules because of “addictive” design features and warned Meta to make changes or face fines. EU tells Instagram, Facebook to change addictive features or risk fines

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $838.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 6.0%

The stock has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $598.10 and its 200 day moving average is $626.80.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The business’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.43 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. The trade was a 41.08% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 44,748 shares of company stock valued at $27,565,292 in the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. RHL Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Axiom Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Bayban increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.