Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $750.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective lifted by KeyCorp from $700.00 to $750.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $655.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of META stock opened at $676.49 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $608.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $563.58. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $387.10 and a 1-year high of $682.58. The company has a market cap of $1.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total transaction of $571,552.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,215,915.50. The trade was a 2.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 661,312 shares of company stock worth $407,377,422. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at about $1,559,000. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 208.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 259 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $131,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. SPC Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 1,077 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $543,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. SRN Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 127.4% in the second quarter. SRN Advisors LLC now owns 5,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,797,000 after purchasing an additional 3,108 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $529,000. Hedge funds and other 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.