Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading 0.5% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price shot up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $475.00 to $540.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $503.67 and last traded at $502.10. 2,553,721 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 16,491,051 shares. The stock had previously closed at $499.49.

META has been the topic of several other reports. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Wolfe Research dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $545.00 target price (down from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.05.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $4,223,529.35. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 74,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,190,573. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $4,223,529.35. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 74,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,190,573. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.34, for a total transaction of $8,406,784.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 275,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $138,567,991.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 313,169 shares of company stock valued at $153,344,736. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 2,389 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $717,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 1,838 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $552,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 79.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 16,138 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,845,000 after acquiring an additional 7,120 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 36.4% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 94,573 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,392,000 after acquiring an additional 25,227 shares during the period. Finally, Certified Advisory Corp raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 905 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $478.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $446.29. The firm has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.