Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 1.2% on Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares were up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Monday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $555.00 to $636.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $600.10 and last traded at $596.79. Approximately 2,238,271 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 15,295,687 shares. The stock had previously closed at $589.95.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on META. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $475.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $647.00 to $652.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $613.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total value of $195,642.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,971 shares in the company, valued at $2,835,389.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 249,826 shares of company stock worth $131,791,613 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during 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 period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after acquiring an additional 4,379,826 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,733,731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,748,620 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,582,876,000 after purchasing an additional 342,742 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $540.41 and a 200 day moving average of $506.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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