Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $610.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price increased by BMO Capital Markets from $530.00 to $610.00 in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market perform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of META stock opened at $687.00 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $387.10 and a 12 month high of $710.79. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $611.00 and a 200-day moving average of $564.44.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total value of $602,730.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,510,470. This represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,365,820,000 after buying an additional 4,126,190 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 87,269.8% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,067,659 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $625,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066,437 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $520,662,000 after acquiring an additional 890,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.