Roth Mkm Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective boosted by Roth Mkm from $620.00 to $635.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on META. Loop Capital increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $567.16 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $555.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $513.25. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $308.33 and a 52 week high of $602.95. The company has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 21.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $311,493,681. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at $6,315,852.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total value of $295,569.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,508 shares in the company, valued at $311,493,681. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 251,092 shares of company stock worth $132,865,496. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arrow Financial Corp grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Arrow Financial Corp now owns 13,646 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,812,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd now owns 101,634 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $58,179,000 after purchasing an additional 5,266 shares in the last quarter. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC now owns 2,016 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,154,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 39,414 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $22,569,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XML Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $965,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.