Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Benchmark

Benchmark reaffirmed their hold rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on META. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $481.73 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $207.13 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $494.81 and a 200-day moving average of $401.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.33, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.00 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 13.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.36, for a total transaction of $7,722,037.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $392.36, for a total transaction of $7,722,037.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,391,935 shares of company stock valued at $666,288,408. Corporate insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,469,906,000 after buying an additional 927,491 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted 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 buying an additional 1,083,719 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by 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.