Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $900.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price upped by Bank of America from $775.00 to $900.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $845.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $812.00 price objective (up from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $820.32.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.0%

META stock opened at $750.01 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 1.97. The business’s 50-day moving average is $701.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $645.88. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $450.80 and a fifty-two week high of $784.75.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.16 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. This represents a 10.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 152,980 shares of company stock worth $105,708,832. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Valley Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.0% during the second quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the second quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,223 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 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.