Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $605.00 at Robert W. Baird

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target boosted by Robert W. Baird from $530.00 to $605.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on META. Wedbush reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $570.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $480.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. DA Davidson started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a buy rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $591.23.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ META opened at $567.36 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $279.40 and a 1-year high of $577.40. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $516.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $499.63. The company has a market capitalization of $1.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 325,656 shares of company stock valued at $171,028,659. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.