JMP Securities restated their market outperform rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $550.00 target price on the social networking company's stock.
Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on META. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $520.28.
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Meta Platforms Price Performance
Meta Platforms stock traded up $0.66 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $481.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 17,232,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,160,061. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $207.13 and a twelve month high of $531.49. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $494.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $401.23.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.00 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 13.42%.
Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms
In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total transaction of $217,910.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 35,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,585,110. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,723,496.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total transaction of $217,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,585,110. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,392,501 shares of company stock worth $666,506,318. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,469,906,000 after buying an additional 927,491 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $12,296,383,000 after buying an additional 1,083,719 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
About Meta Platforms
(
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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.
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