Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $750.00 at KeyCorp

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price boosted by KeyCorp from $700.00 to $750.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the subject of a number of other research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $655.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $676.49 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $387.10 and a 12-month high of $682.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $608.52 and a 200 day moving average of $563.58.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,366 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $648.68, for a total value of $14,508,376.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $376,234.40. The trade was a 97.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total value of $234,410.54. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,294 shares in the company, valued at $5,842,668.52. The trade was a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 661,312 shares of company stock worth $407,377,422. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Meta Platforms

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.