Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 0.3% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shot up 0.3% on Friday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $645.00 to $705.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $573.25 and last traded at $569.27. 5,986,531 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 15,112,900 shares. The stock had previously closed at $567.58.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on META. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,508 shares in the company, valued at $311,493,681. 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. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total value of $295,569.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,508 shares in the company, valued at $311,493,681. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total value of $524,990.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 251,993 shares of company stock worth $133,271,982. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. XML Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $965,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Austin Asset Management Co Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Austin Asset Management Co Inc now owns 1,617 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the third quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,260 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,584,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Carr Financial Group Corp boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 1,999 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Finally, GSG Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 1,729 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $997,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.1 %

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 has a 50 day moving average price of $555.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $513.03. The company has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.26% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

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.