Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 0.5% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) rose 0.5% on Friday after TD Cowen raised their price target on the stock from $600.00 to $675.00. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $583.97 and last traded at $579.66. Approximately 2,596,915 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 15,181,635 shares. The stock had previously closed at $576.93.

Several other analysts have also commented on META. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 price objective on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Loop Capital raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $617.37.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.80, for a total value of $443,269.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,206,674. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.80, for a total value of $443,269.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,206,674. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 250,816 shares of company stock worth $132,421,828 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after buying an additional 244,803 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after acquiring an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.7% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,733,731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,748,620 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,582,876,000 after acquiring an additional 342,742 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.1 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $546.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $508.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

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.