Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-three ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $638.00.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $578.55, for a total transaction of $523,587.75. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 35,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,308,262.10. This represents a 2.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,908.60. This represents a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 287,979 shares of company stock valued at $174,503,958 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2,000.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 105 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $607.75 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $586.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $544.77. The company has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $340.01 and a 12 month high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 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.