Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $730.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price boosted by Wolfe Research from $670.00 to $730.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Wolfe Research currently has an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on META. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $642.88.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $604.63 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $589.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $549.56. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $343.40 and a 1-year high of $638.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued 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 yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.89, for a total value of $533,850.45. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,197 shares in the company, valued at $20,172,468.33. This represents a 2.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,695 shares in the company, valued at $21,416,908.60. This represents a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 326,624 shares of company stock worth $197,875,975. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after buying an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after buying an additional 263,063 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,754,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,911,029,000 after acquiring an additional 208,677 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.