Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 0.9% on Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price rose 0.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on the stock from $570.00 to $620.00. Monness Crespi & Hardt currently has a buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $583.04 and last traded at $577.72. Approximately 5,722,944 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 15,548,877 shares. The stock had previously closed at $572.44.

META has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $660.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $597.95.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 8,727 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.87, for a total value of $4,615,448.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 178,099 shares in the company, valued at $94,191,218.13. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 8,727 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.87, for a total transaction of $4,615,448.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 178,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,191,218.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 308,462 shares of company stock worth $162,308,065. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after buying an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,733,731,000 after buying an additional 2,748,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,582,876,000 after buying an additional 342,742 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.7 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $519.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $500.85.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given 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 is presently 11.49%.

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.