Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 1.8% on Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price rose 1.8% during trading on Wednesday after Raymond James raised their price target on the stock from $675.00 to $725.00. Raymond James currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $629.69 and last traded at $627.85. Approximately 3,962,415 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 12,377,900 shares. The stock had previously closed at $616.46.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on META. UBS Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $652.49.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 531,190 shares of company stock worth $322,938,501 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after buying an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,101,602,000 after buying an additional 186,728 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $598.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $558.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

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.