Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $735.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $675.00 to $735.00 in a research note published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on META. TD Securities reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Pivotal Research decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $697.71 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $587.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $614.84. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $3,334,383.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 16,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,855,043.68. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total transaction of $370,272.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,904,886. This trade represents a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 56,171 shares of company stock worth $35,163,457. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $33,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.