Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading 0.1% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price traded up 0.1% during trading on Tuesday after Raymond James raised their price target on the stock from $550.00 to $600.00. Raymond James currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $505.00 and last traded at $505.00. 1,602,615 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 16,278,534 shares. The stock had previously closed at $504.68.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 price target on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $545.00 price objective (down previously from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $511.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.51, for a total transaction of $253,089.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,167,719.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.51, for a total value of $253,089.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,167,719.19. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.96, for a total value of $8,600,861.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 213,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $109,690,084.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 218,086 shares of company stock valued at $106,423,370 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 80.4% in the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.0 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $480.72 and a 200 day moving average of $458.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio 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.