Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 0.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares shot up 0.1% on Tuesday after Raymond James raised their price target on the stock from $550.00 to $600.00. Raymond James currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $505.00 and last traded at $505.00. 1,602,615 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 16,278,534 shares. The stock had previously closed at $504.68.

META has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $4,223,529.35. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 74,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,190,573. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $4,223,529.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 74,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,190,573. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total transaction of $194,752.40. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,376 shares in the company, valued at $7,268,235.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 252,395 shares of company stock valued at $123,781,816 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after acquiring an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,978 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $12,296,383,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.1 %

The company has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.29, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The company has a 50 day moving average of $481.05 and a 200-day moving average of $458.42.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

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.