Stifel Nicolaus Raises Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $663.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective increased by Stifel Nicolaus from $590.00 to $663.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on META. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $613.71.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $576.79 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $544.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $507.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $279.40 and a twelve month high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 21.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total value of $295,569.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,493,681. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $190,756.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,573,817. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,493,681. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 249,911 shares of company stock valued at $131,887,905 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ellsworth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.2% during the third quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 1,629 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $933,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Drake & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 44.6% during the third quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 2,143 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 661 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.9% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 57,625 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $32,987,000 after purchasing an additional 2,157 shares during the period. Secure Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the third quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 18,366 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,513,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.6% during the third quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 5,478 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,136,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.