Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given Strong-Buy Rating at Raymond James

Raymond James reaffirmed their strong-buy rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Raymond James currently has a $675.00 price target on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price objective on the stock. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.1 %

META opened at $565.11 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $573.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $525.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $313.66 and a twelve month high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 22.62 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total transaction of $459,405.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,197,043.71. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 118,218 shares of company stock worth $65,819,414 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 48.8% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,886,000 after purchasing an additional 16,138 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 541.8% in the 1st quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 3,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,862,000 after purchasing an additional 3,224 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,829,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 59.6% in the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 1,026 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $498,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clear Point Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Clear Point Advisors Inc. now owns 1,036 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $503,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.