Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 0.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

by · The Cerbat Gem

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) traded up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday 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 $621.50 and last traded at $613.50. 3,201,222 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 12,363,796 shares. The stock had previously closed at $612.77.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on META. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $651.27.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on META

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total transaction of $524,990.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 31,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,262,708.20. This trade represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,147,531.12. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 495,269 shares of company stock worth $300,888,396 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,101,602,000 after buying an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.7 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $597.37 and a 200-day moving average of $557.77.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Meta Platforms Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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