Brokerages Set Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Price Target at $634.71

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the forty-three analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $634.71.

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Susquehanna raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Pivotal Research raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of META stock opened at $613.65 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $313.66 and a 12-month high of $614.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $575.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $528.92.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total value of $511,596.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,362,687. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 105,334 shares of company stock valued at $59,210,941. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $46,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.