Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price was up 2% during trading on Friday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $753.00 to $780.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $705.30 and last traded at $700.84. Approximately 7,201,102 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 15,265,275 shares. The stock had previously closed at $687.00.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $706.76.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total transaction of $602,730.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,295 shares in the company, valued at $19,510,470. This represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.3 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $613.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $565.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. 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, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.74% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

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.