Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Increased to $675.00 by Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target boosted by Sanford C. Bernstein from $600.00 to $675.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $563.00 to $630.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $621.63.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $578.16 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $552.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $511.04. The firm has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.21, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $296.86 and a twelve month high of $602.95. 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.23 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 21.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.48, for a total transaction of $214,849.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,684,057.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.48, for a total transaction of $214,849.76. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,147 shares in the company, valued at $2,684,057.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 250,817 shares of company stock valued at $132,547,715 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Gradient Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,600,000 after purchasing an additional 5,953 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.0% in the first quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 6,101,501 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,962,767,000 after purchasing an additional 748,076 shares in the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 59.0% in the first quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $802,000 after purchasing an additional 613 shares in the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 26.5% in the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $846,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the period. Finally, Lincoln National Corp grew its position in Meta Platforms by 7.8% in the first quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 34,790 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,894,000 after acquiring an additional 2,504 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.