Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 3.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:METAGet Free Report) were up 3.1% during mid-day trading on Monday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $665.00 to $775.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $707.15 and last traded at $703.77. Approximately 6,133,733 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 58% from the average daily volume of 14,489,960 shares. The stock had previously closed at $682.35.

META has been the subject of a number of other reports. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Susquehanna cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $706.88.

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Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total transaction of $577,513.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 31,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,552,673.10. The trade was a 2.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.96, for a total value of $5,476,691.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,550,434.92. This trade represents a 6.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 84,672 shares of company stock worth $55,455,647 in the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after buying an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at $2,990,544,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.8%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $607.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $620.85. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:METAGet Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.19%.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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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.

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