Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $530.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price increased by Robert W. Baird from $500.00 to $530.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Loop Capital reiterated a buy rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $522.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $625.00 to $647.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $571.84.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.2 %

META traded down $10.78 on Thursday, reaching $477.36. 11,563,325 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,388,426. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $274.38 and a 52-week high of $542.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The company has a market cap of $1.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.86, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $494.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $479.87.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 20.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the business’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 transaction of $194,752.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,376 shares in the company, valued at $7,268,235.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The disclosure for this trade can be found here. Insiders have sold 310,685 shares of company stock valued at $154,398,206 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings 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 worth $12,296,383,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,719 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position 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 worth $16,799,612,000 after acquiring an additional 4,379,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $11,285,855,000. Institutional investors 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.