Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Expected to Rise, JMP Securities Analyst Says

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target lifted by JMP Securities from $660.00 to $750.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. JMP Securities currently has a market outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $640.20.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $599.24 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $588.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $547.83. The company has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $343.17 and a twelve month high of $638.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $2,918,698.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 8,565 shares in the company, valued at $4,943,375.40. The trade was a 37.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 327,116 shares of company stock worth $198,171,544. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,658 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,870,000 after purchasing an additional 935 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the second quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,480 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,771,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the period. Massachusetts Wealth Management grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 846 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 101.2% in the 2nd quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,199 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $605,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares during the period. Finally, Drive Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 9.5% during the second quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,910 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,484,000 after acquiring an additional 599 shares during the last quarter. 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.