Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) saw an upside of 0.59% to close Monday at $300.83 after adding $1.75 on the day. The 5-day average trading volume is 20,197,420 shares of the company’s common stock. It has gained $308.06 in the past week and touched a new high 2 times within the past 5 days. An average of 18,672,176 shares of the company has been traded in the last 20 days, and the 50-day average volume stands at 21,658,252.
META’s 1-month performance is 4.91% or $15.33 on its low of $285.80 reached on 08/28/23. The company’s shares have touched a 52-week low of $88.09 and high of $326.20, with the stock’s rally to the 52-week high happening on 07/28/23. YTD, META has achieved 149.98% or $180.49 and has reached a new high 51 times. However, the current price is down -7.78% from the 52-week high price.
Insider Transactions
META stock investors last saw insider trading activity on Sep 19.Newstead Jennifer (Chief Legal Officer) most recently sold 670 shares at $302.48 per share on Sep 19. This transaction cost the insider $202,662. Chief Legal Officer, Newstead Jennifer, sold 670 shares at a price of $306.34 on Sep 12. Then, on Sep 05, Chief Legal Officer Newstead Jennifer sold 670 shares at a price of $297.45 per share. This transaction amounted to $199,292.
Valuation Metrics
META stock has a beta of 1.22. Moving on to other valuation ratios, the trailing price-to-sales (P/S) ratio is 6.42 while the price-to-book (PB) in the most recent quarter is 5.77, with the price to cash flow ratio at 32.21.
Meta Platforms Inc’s quick ratio for the period ended June 29 was 2.32, with the current ratio over the same period at 2.32. As well, the company’s long term debt to equity for the quarter ending June 29 was 0.26, while the total debt to equity was 0.28. In terms of profitability, the gross margin trailing 12 months is 79.43%. The trailing 12-month EBITDA margin is 36.22% while for the period ending June 29, Meta Platforms Inc’s operating margin was 30.43%. The firm’s gross profit as reported stood at $91.36 billion against revenue of $116.61 billion.
Earnings Surprise
For the quarterly period ending June 29 this year, Net income and sales went up compared to those figures reported in the previous quarter. Net income grew 14.14% to $7.79 billion, while revenue of $5.71 billion was 26.69% off the previous quarter. Analysts expected META to announce $2.91 per share in earnings in its latest quarter, but it posted $2.98, representing a 2.40% surprise. EBITDA for the quarter stood at more than $12.02 billion. META stock balance sheet for the quarter ending June 29 shows that total liabilities totaled 72.66 billion, with total debt at $36.98 billion. Shareholders hold equity totaling $2.57 billion.
Let’s look briefly at Meta Platforms Inc (META) price momentum from a technical analysis perspective. The 9-day relative strength index as at close on 25 September was 50.74% to suggest the stock is trending Neutral, with historical volatility in this time period at 27.80%.
The stock’s 5-day moving average is $300.08, reflecting a -0.57% or -$1.72 change from its current price. META is currently trading +5.37% above its 20-day SMA, +25.74% above its 100-day SMA. However, the stock’s current price level is away from the SMA50 by -2.60% and SMA200 by+163.61%.
Stochastic %K and %D was 30.64% and 32.61% and the average true range (ATR) pointed at 8.33. The RSI (14) points at 50.90%, while the 14-day stochastic is at 41.69% with the period’s ATR at 8.49. The stock’s 9-day MACD Oscillator is pointing at -3.68 and -3.24 on the 14-day charts.
Analyst Ratings
In the most recent analyst report for Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META), Wedbush launched coverage with an Outperform rating. Analysts offering their rating for META stock have a consensus rating for the stock as Buy. Currently, 1 brokerage advisors rate META as a “sell,”, while 6 advise that investors “Hold.” 1 analysts have rated the stock as underweight. 5 rates the stock as overweight while 45 have offered a “buy” rating.
What is META’s price target for the next 12 months?
Analysts have a consensus price target ranging from a low of $100.00 and a high of $435.00, with their median price target at $377.50. Looking at these predictions, the average price target given by analysts is for Meta Platforms Inc (META) stock is $369.54.
