Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 0.6% After Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price shot up 0.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $600.00 to $675.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $579.66 and last traded at $578.69. 2,483,725 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 15,108,576 shares. The stock had previously closed at $575.16.

META has been the subject of several other reports. Loop Capital increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, DA Davidson started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $619.20.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $190,756.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,817. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $190,756.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,817. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 249,911 shares of company stock worth $131,978,559 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lane & Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $200,000. First PREMIER Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $49,000. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 5,332 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,589,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 456.7% in the 1st quarter. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. now owns 6,780 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,292,000 after purchasing an additional 5,562 shares during the period. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 413.4% during the 1st quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 3,840 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,865,000 after purchasing an additional 3,092 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.6 %

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $547.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $509.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The stock has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.24, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

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.