Meta Platforms’ (META) “Market Outperform” Rating Reiterated at JMP Securities

JMP Securities reaffirmed their market outperform rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $750.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $655.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $676.49 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $608.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $563.58. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $387.10 and a 52 week high of $682.58. The stock has a market cap of $1.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total value of $511,497.70. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,360,833.70. This represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction of $234,410.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,294 shares in the company, valued at $5,842,668.52. This trade represents a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 661,312 shares of company stock valued at $407,377,422 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Seelaus Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. Lindenwold Advisors INC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $625,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,569,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.