Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $550.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price lifted by Raymond James from $525.00 to $550.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a strong-buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on META. Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $545.00 target price (down from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $550.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $510.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.2 %

META opened at $492.96 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $258.88 and a one year high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $480.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $436.44.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $2,386,617.30. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $7,272,152.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $2,386,617.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,272,152.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $431.05, for a total transaction of $252,164.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,794,965.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 604,890 shares of company stock worth $297,429,900 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. ProVise Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC now owns 6,955 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,088,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.7% in the 3rd quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,399 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $720,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp now owns 87,022 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,125,000 after acquiring an additional 894 shares during the last quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 24,457 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,342,000 after acquiring an additional 3,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allred Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.7% in the third quarter. Allred Capital Management LLC now owns 2,107 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $633,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.