Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 0.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shot up 0.2% on Tuesday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $525.00 to $550.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $504.77 and last traded at $501.29. 3,042,017 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 17,052,457 shares. The stock had previously closed at $500.23.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $410.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Guggenheim upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Wolfe Research upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 2,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $958,392.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,757,883.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock valued at $684,796,490 in the last ninety days. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of Stockton raised its position in Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Signify Wealth acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $228,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Keel Point LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 6,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,008,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $269,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $493.65 and a 200-day moving average of $396.70.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.00 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

About Meta Platforms

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.