Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Reaches New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Piper Sandler raised their price target on the stock from $650.00 to $670.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $632.50 and last traded at $632.27, with a volume of 1143796 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $619.32.

META has been the topic of a number of other reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $635.20.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $537.72, for a total transaction of $486,636.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,912 shares in the company, valued at $19,848,320.64. This represents a 2.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 164,201 shares of company stock valued at $95,420,559. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 6,428 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,241,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Tsfg LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 1,321 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $666,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 2,045 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,031,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 6.2% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 137,014 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,085,000 after purchasing an additional 8,012 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.1 %

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $581.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $535.09. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.60 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 9.42%.

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.