Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $783.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $664.00 to $783.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $727.95.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $727.24 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $747.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $672.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $633.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.36, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at $82,928,955.27. This represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 153,792 shares of company stock valued at $105,466,325. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.