Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) PT Raised to $600.00 at Raymond James

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target hoisted by Raymond James from $550.00 to $600.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. Raymond James currently has a strong-buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on META. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. JMP Securities restated a market outperform rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.1 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $509.96 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $482.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $458.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.29, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $274.38 and a 52 week high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 630,293 shares in the company, valued at $300,466,976.03. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total value of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 630,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $300,466,976.03. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total transaction of $1,007,350.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,932 shares in the company, valued at $159,759,417.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 251,905 shares of company stock valued at $123,528,726 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 69.9% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 26,817 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,051,000 after acquiring an additional 11,033 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the third quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 28,577 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,579,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Elevatus Welath Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $506,000. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 57,612 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $17,296,000 after buying an additional 1,899 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $834,315,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.