Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 2.5% on Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) was up 2.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday after JMP Securities raised their price target on the stock from $660.00 to $750.00. JMP Securities currently has a market outperform rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $604.91 and last traded at $600.13. Approximately 3,935,484 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 14,682,313 shares. The stock had previously closed at $585.51.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $640.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total transaction of $1,387,085.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $583.73, for a total transaction of $241,080.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,973,238.58. The trade was a 3.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 326,211 shares of company stock worth $197,633,759. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2,000.0% in the third quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $588.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $547.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

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.