Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $550.00 Price Target at Barclays

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective hoisted by Barclays from $520.00 to $550.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the topic of several other reports. Raymond James increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Benchmark restated a hold rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $571.84.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META traded down $5.96 on Thursday, hitting $491.78. 12,533,492 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,343,250. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $493.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $477.52. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $274.38 and a 52-week high of $542.81. The company has a market capitalization of $1.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.63% and a net margin of 34.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 20.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.87, for a total value of $8,916,696.74. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,918 shares in the company, valued at $81,104,462.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The disclosure for this trade can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 310,685 shares of company stock valued at $154,398,206 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of META. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 63.1% during the 2nd quarter. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,236 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,136,000 after buying an additional 1,639 shares during the last quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 7,045 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,552,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 8,259 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,164,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.3% during the 2nd quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 8,332 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,201,000 after acquiring an additional 977 shares during the period. Finally, Oxinas Partners Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 125.9% in the 2nd quarter. Oxinas Partners Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,322 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.