Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $685.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $641.00 to $685.00 in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given 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 $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.8 %

META opened at $617.12 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $358.61 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The business has a 50-day moving average of $595.02 and a 200-day moving average of $554.81. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.69, for a total value of $21,721,069.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total value of $239,808.45. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,456,828. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 495,682 shares of company stock valued at $301,101,199. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $49,000. 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.