Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 1.5% on Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price was up 1.5% on Tuesday after Piper Sandler raised their price target on the stock from $650.00 to $670.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $625.59 and last traded at $623.07. Approximately 3,437,994 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 14,782,405 shares. The stock had previously closed at $613.57.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $635.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $537.72, for a total transaction of $486,636.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,848,320.64. The trade was a 2.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,946 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $621.84, for a total transaction of $14,268,740.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 164,201 shares of company stock worth $95,420,559 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,365,820,000 after purchasing an additional 4,126,190 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $595,152,000. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,662,000 after buying an additional 890,434 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.9 %

The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day moving average of $581.32 and a 200 day moving average of $535.09.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

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.