Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $600.00 Price Target at Raymond James

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target increased by Raymond James from $550.00 to $600.00 in a research report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a strong-buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on META. Benchmark reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $504.68 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $274.38 and a 12-month high of $531.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business’s 50 day moving average is $480.46 and its 200-day moving average is $456.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total transaction of $194,752.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,376 shares in the company, valued at $7,268,235.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total value of $194,752.40. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,268,235.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 218,086 shares of company stock valued at $106,423,370. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after buying an additional 831,047 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after buying an additional 244,803 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after buying an additional 1,083,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares in 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.