Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Increased to $630.00 by Analysts at Bank of America

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective raised by Bank of America from $563.00 to $630.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a buy rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, TD Securities raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $591.23.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $567.36 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $516.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $499.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $279.40 and a 52-week high of $577.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $3.23 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 21.36 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $569.93, for a total value of $5,699,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 328,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $187,314,333.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 325,656 shares of company stock worth $171,028,659. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sage Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.0% in the second quarter. Sage Advisors LLC now owns 2,038 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,028,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,925,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 75.1% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 23,244 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $11,720,000 after acquiring an additional 9,972 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 20,112 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,141,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 926.6% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 733,358 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $369,774,000 after purchasing an additional 661,923 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.