Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 0.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded up 0.1% on Friday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $655.00 to $700.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $622.93 and last traded at $611.09. 6,491,521 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 10,961,600 shares. The stock had previously closed at $610.72.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on META. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $646.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.97, for a total transaction of $533,922.85. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,292 shares in the company, valued at $19,641,281.24. This trade represents a 2.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 411,441 shares of company stock valued at $249,595,828. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after buying an additional 263,063 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after buying an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,754,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,911,029,000 after acquiring an additional 208,677 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $593.63 and its 200-day moving average is $553.27. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

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.