Benchmark Reaffirms “Hold” Rating for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Benchmark reiterated their hold rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research note released on Monday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on META. Wedbush boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $493.50 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $207.13 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $1.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $495.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $403.14.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 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 firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 13.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock valued at $657,034,449. 14.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 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.