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

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective boosted by Susquehanna from $675.00 to $800.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Susquehanna currently has a positive rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $687.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $611.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $564.44. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $387.10 and a fifty-two week high of $710.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 39.74%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 25.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total transaction of $511,497.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors 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.