Meta Platforms’ (META) “Market Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at JMP Securities

JMP Securities restated their market outperform rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $550.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on META. Benchmark reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wedbush increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ META opened at $481.73 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $207.13 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $494.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $401.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,391,935 shares of company stock valued at $666,288,408. Insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,856 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,158,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 36,738 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $11,029,000 after buying an additional 2,412 shares during the last quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,530 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $459,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,396 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $419,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Herbst Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $1,467,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.