Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 0.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price rose 0.2% on Tuesday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $525.00 to $550.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $504.77 and last traded at $501.29. Approximately 3,042,017 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 17,052,457 shares. The stock had previously closed at $500.23.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on META. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.90.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.90, for a total transaction of $3,500,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,935 shares in the company, valued at $31,086,721.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock worth $684,796,490. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $30,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 68.9% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $493.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $396.70. The firm has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.17, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.