Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-three research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation, thirty-five have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $650.05.

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of 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

Shares of META stock opened at $612.77 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $370.95 and a one year high of $638.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $596.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $557.04. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,147,531.12. This trade represents a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. This represents a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 496,174 shares of company stock worth $301,408,499. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC now owns 512 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,356 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,494,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. FCG Investment Co lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. FCG Investment Co now owns 8,210 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,807,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares during the last quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,020 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,768,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 625 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.