Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $620.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective hoisted by Roth Capital from $580.00 to $620.00 in a report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock. Roth Capital also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q2 2026 earnings at $6.32 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $6.48 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $8.50 EPS.

META has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $597.02 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $575.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $603.80. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.17, for a total value of $502,101.57. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 26,577 shares in the company, valued at $14,488,983.09. The trade was a 3.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $676.00, for a total value of $279,188.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,443,524. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.