Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $710.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target raised by Bank of America from $660.00 to $710.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $700.00 price target (up previously from $680.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

META opened at $647.49 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $385.66 and a one year high of $652.00. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $601.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $560.33.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction of $234,410.54. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. This trade represents a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total transaction of $559,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,663,600. This trade represents a 2.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. Fiera Capital Corp increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 35.1% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,089 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,938,574 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $977,468,000 after buying an additional 7,539 shares in the last quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $352,000. Unisphere Establishment boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 235.0% during the second quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 33,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,891,000 after acquiring an additional 23,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wick Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wick Capital Partners LLC now owns 598 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $302,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.