Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $660.00 at Morgan Stanley

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target raised by Morgan Stanley from $600.00 to $660.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $608.33 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $358.61 and a 1-year high of $638.40. The company has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.65, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $594.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $554.18. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total transaction of $571,552.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 32,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,215,915.50. The trade was a 2.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 423,427 shares of company stock valued at $256,996,450 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.