Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $635.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target raised by Roth Mkm from $620.00 to $635.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Roth Mkm currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $647.00 to $652.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of META stock opened at $567.16 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $308.33 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $555.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $513.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 21.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,534 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total transaction of $3,299,931.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 116,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,639,184.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total transaction of $3,299,931.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 116,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,639,184.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 251,993 shares of company stock valued at $133,271,982. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,597,382,000 after acquiring an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after acquiring an additional 4,379,826 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 24.7% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,733,731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,748,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,582,876,000 after buying an additional 342,742 shares during the period. 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.