Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-three brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $717.90.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $935.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This trade represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $694.84 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $645.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $589.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.66 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

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.