Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $610.00 Price Target at Canaccord Genuity Group

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective increased by Canaccord Genuity Group from $580.00 to $610.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Canaccord Genuity Group currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $518.15.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $494.17 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $493.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $396.70. The firm has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.17, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $207.13 and a 1 year high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.75, for a total transaction of $253,697.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,579 shares in the company, valued at $3,924,027.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock valued at $684,796,490 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,223,148,000. Morgan Stanley acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $4,072,543,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $1,796,633,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $1,731,491,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.