From Morningstar:

Meta Platforms has announced that it will be initiating a quarterly dividend payment to shareholders. Shareholders of record on February 22 will be paid a $0.50 per share dividend on March 26. The firm also said that buybacks will remain the primary mechanism by which it returns cash to shareholders. Meta’s shares rose 20.3% to a new record high of $474.87 after this announcement.

The newly announced dividend equals a payout of approximately $5.3 billion for 2024. Meta CFO Susan Li said that returning capital to shareholders remains an important priority for the company, and introducing a dividend gives them more flexibility in how they return capital in the future.

The initial annual dividend rate of $2 per share equates to an 11.1% payout ratio and translates into a forward yield of less than 0.5% as of the recent closing price. Based on analysts’ earnings forecasts, that annual rate would increase to $3.18 per share by 2028. However, even if Meta’s stock price doesn’t increase over the next four years, its dividend yield would remain less than 1%, far below the yield most income-focused investors seek.



Read more: Meta’s First Dividend Explained | Morningstar