Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Earns “Strong-Buy” Rating from Raymond James

Raymond James reissued their strong-buy rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $675.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Loop Capital upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.8 %

META stock opened at $569.20 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $574.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $526.03. The company has a market capitalization of $1.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.81, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 22.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.35, for a total transaction of $215,317.55. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 14,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,304,634.85. This trade represents a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 111,561 shares of company stock valued at $62,445,464. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.