Oppenheimer Issues Positive Forecast for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target raised by Oppenheimer from $650.00 to $665.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on META. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $786.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $685.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $628.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $688.63.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $572.21 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $432.28 and a one year high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $576.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $603.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. 79.91% of the stock is 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.