Meta Platforms’ (META) “Hold” Rating Reaffirmed at Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their hold rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a report published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports.

META has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $500.00 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, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $493.50 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $495.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $403.14. 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 one year low of $207.13 and a one year high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.12, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.00 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,368,244 shares of company stock valued at $657,034,449 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after purchasing an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Stockton lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Signify Wealth bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $79,212,000 after purchasing an additional 4,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. 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.