Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Receives “Buy” Rating from Rosenblatt Securities

Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $811.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on META. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $655.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $676.49 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $387.10 and a one year high of $682.58. The company’s 50-day moving average is $608.52 and its 200 day moving average is $563.58.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 661,312 shares of company stock valued at $407,377,422 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. MGB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 34.0% during the 4th quarter. MGB Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,166 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $684,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 1,088 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $637,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Howard Bailey Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Howard Bailey Securities LLC now owns 602 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $352,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Hemington Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 1,973 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,155,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stanley Laman Group Ltd. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,964 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,150,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. 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.