Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 1.8% Following Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares rose 1.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $660.00 to $710.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $629.69 and last traded at $627.85. Approximately 3,962,415 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 12,377,900 shares. The stock had previously closed at $616.46.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on META. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $654.20.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total value of $252,071.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,004 shares in the company, valued at $310,890,460.68. This represents a 0.08 % 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, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction of $234,410.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. This trade represents a 3.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $600.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $559.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.