UBS Group Increases Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $635.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price upped by UBS Group from $630.00 to $635.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. TD Cowen increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets reissued a market perform rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $571.84.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $488.14 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $494.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $479.09. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $274.38 and a twelve month high of $542.81.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $300,466,976.03. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $300,466,976.03. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.18, for a total value of $8,404,112.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 301,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $151,697,700.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 310,685 shares of company stock valued at $154,398,206 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after buying an additional 831,047 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,597,382,000 after buying an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after buying an additional 1,083,719 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $11,285,855,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.