Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $775.00 at Piper Sandler

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective increased by Piper Sandler from $670.00 to $775.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $687.00 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $387.10 and a twelve 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 capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $611.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $564.44.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 25.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total value of $602,730.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,295 shares in the company, valued at $19,510,470. This trade represents a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.