Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Receives $634.71 Average Target Price from Analysts

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-three ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $634.71.

A number of analysts have commented on META shares. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total value of $11,150,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 338,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $188,810,838.24. This trade represents a 5.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at $311,054,400. This represents a 0.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 105,334 shares of company stock worth $59,210,941. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $408,000. Oriental Harbor Investment Fund bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $95,734,000. American Trust lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 112.1% during the third quarter. American Trust now owns 6,930 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,967,000 after purchasing an additional 3,663 shares during the period. Old North State Trust LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the third quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 1,290 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $738,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,101,602,000 after purchasing an additional 186,728 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $613.65 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $575.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $528.92. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $313.66 and a fifty-two week high of $614.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

About Meta Platforms

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.