Brokerages Set Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) PT at $638.00

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-three analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation, thirty-five have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $638.00.

Several brokerages have weighed in on META. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $599.81 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $587.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $546.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $340.01 and a one year high of $638.40. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.25, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,908.60. This trade represents a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 324,805 shares of company stock worth $196,770,261. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lindenwold Advisors INC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the third quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 1,906 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,099,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.