Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 0.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price shot up 0.1% during trading on Friday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $655.00 to $700.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $622.93 and last traded at $611.09. 6,491,521 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 10,961,600 shares. The stock had previously closed at $610.72.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $646.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total value of $571,552.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,215,915.50. This trade represents a 2.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 411,441 shares of company stock valued at $249,595,828 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,089 shares during the last quarter. Mount Lucas Management LP purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $171,000. Stonekeep Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $747,000. First Foundation Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.7% during the second quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 22,171 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $11,179,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151 shares during the period. Finally, Private Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.9% in the second quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 1,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $555,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.8 %

The company’s 50 day moving average is $593.63 and its 200 day moving average is $552.97. The company has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.