Oppenheimer Raises Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $615.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target lifted by Oppenheimer from $525.00 to $615.00 in a report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Raymond James upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. JMP Securities restated a market outperform rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $571.84.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $488.14 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $494.09 and its 200-day moving average is $479.09. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.04, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $274.38 and a 1-year high of $542.81.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total value of $194,752.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,268,235.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total value of $194,752.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,268,235.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 576 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total value of $268,606.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,819,124.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 310,685 shares of company stock valued at $154,398,206 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the second quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,692,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the second quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 91,579 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $46,176,000 after purchasing an additional 2,519 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 201,994 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $101,739,000 after purchasing an additional 2,547 shares during the period. SouthState Corp grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 14,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,278,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. Finally, Hohimer Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at $5,877,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.