Royal Bank of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective hoisted by Royal Bank of Canada from $700.00 to $800.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.6 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $687.00 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $611.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $564.44. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $387.10 and a twelve month high of $710.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.74% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 25.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business 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 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total transaction of $602,730.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,510,470. The trade was a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $2,918,698.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 8,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,943,375.40. The trade was a 37.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 30.3% in the 4th quarter. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC now owns 465 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP now owns 5,465 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,200,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 15,725 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,207,000 after acquiring an additional 959 shares during the period. Hoge Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Hoge Financial Services LLC now owns 2,248 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,316,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $648,000. 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.