Canaccord Genuity Group Increases Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $610.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price hoisted by Canaccord Genuity Group from $580.00 to $610.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the subject of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $410.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Roth Mkm reiterated a buy rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $519.53.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $481.07 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $494.55 and a 200 day moving average of $398.64. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $207.13 and a 12-month high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.00 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total value of $291,675.15. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,813 shares in the company, valued at $18,853,183.67. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total value of $291,675.15. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,813 shares in the company, valued at $18,853,183.67. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.75, for a total transaction of $253,697.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,579 shares in the company, valued at $3,924,027.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,421,182 shares of company stock worth $677,574,550. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after buying an additional 32,423 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Stockton boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Signify Wealth bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $228,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keel Point LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 6,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,008,000 after buying an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently 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.