Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Receives $577.26 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $577.26.

META has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Securities lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $559.10 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.11, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $562.07. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $505.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $496.34.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The company’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at $39,285,234.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.88, for a total transaction of $8,532,717.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 230,461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $117,737,915.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 356,426 shares of company stock valued at $185,053,425 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of META. Vantage Financial Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $468,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 45.7% in the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $815,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares in the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 66.4% in the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,993 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,413,000 after purchasing an additional 1,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rollins Financial grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Rollins Financial now owns 30,657 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,851,000 after purchasing an additional 2,133 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.