Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 0% Following Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares were up 0% during trading on Tuesday after Tigress Financial raised their price target on the stock from $645.00 to $935.00. Tigress Financial currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $718.47 and last traded at $717.76. Approximately 3,389,246 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 15,414,232 shares. The stock had previously closed at $717.40.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $717.90.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,131 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $652,767.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $709,329.64. This trade represents a 47.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 756,735 shares of company stock worth $475,285,232 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.1 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $629.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $576.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.