Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Receives $519.53 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-four brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation, thirty-eight have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $520.28.

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $395.00, for a total transaction of $1,777,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,435 shares in the company, valued at $29,796,825. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,391,935 shares of company stock worth $666,288,408 over the last three months. Company insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ META opened at $481.73 on Friday. 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 has a twelve month low of $207.13 and a twelve month high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s fifty day moving average is $494.81 and its 200 day moving average is $401.23.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.00 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.