Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $630.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price boosted by Bank of America from $563.00 to $630.00 in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on META. Wedbush restated an outperform rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. TD Securities raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $591.23.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ META opened at $567.36 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $279.40 and a 52 week high of $577.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $516.19 and a 200-day moving average of $499.60.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 21.36 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $569.93, for a total value of $5,699,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 328,662 shares in the company, valued at $187,314,333.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $569.93, for a total transaction of $5,699,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 328,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $187,314,333.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.08, for a total transaction of $8,402,442.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 204,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,769,182.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 342,358 shares of company stock worth $179,431,101. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vantage Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after acquiring an additional 3,888,308 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 45.7% during the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $815,000 after acquiring an additional 722 shares during the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 66.4% during the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,993 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,413,000 after acquiring an additional 1,594 shares during the period. Finally, Rollins Financial grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Rollins Financial now owns 30,657 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,851,000 after purchasing an additional 2,133 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.