Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given Strong-Buy Rating at Raymond James

Raymond James reissued their strong-buy rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $675.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on META. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $565.11 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $313.66 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $573.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $525.35. 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 22.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,975 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.36, for a total transaction of $4,117,971.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 531,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $274,643,622.24. This represents a 1.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at $29,776,261.56. This trade represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 118,218 shares of company stock valued at $65,819,414 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $46,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by 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.