Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $636.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective lifted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $555.00 to $636.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on META. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $660.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $613.46.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $590.42 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $540.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $506.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 21.37 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 249,826 shares of company stock valued at $131,791,613. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Central Valley Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,271,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. S.A. Mason LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $645,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Front Row Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.7% in the second quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 371 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $187,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Merrion Investment Management Co LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the third quarter. Merrion Investment Management Co LLC now owns 1,145 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $655,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

About Meta Platforms

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.