Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $715.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective increased by Jefferies Financial Group from $675.00 to $715.00 in a research note published on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $645.80.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $610.72 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $591.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $551.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $355.36 and a 1 year high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders 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 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.42, for a total transaction of $8,023,999.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 420,215 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $259,869,360.30. This trade represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 410,949 shares of company stock valued at $249,265,810. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2,000.0% in the third quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.