Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, thirty-four have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $577.26.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $533.28 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $505.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $495.81. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $279.40 and a 1-year high of $544.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 21.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total transaction of $221,747.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 14,424 shares in the company, valued at $7,744,534.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 357,574 shares of company stock valued at $185,587,773. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position 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 buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 95.6% in the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.