Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 0.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shot up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $530.00 to $610.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $504.77 and last traded at $501.29. 3,042,017 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 17,052,457 shares. The stock had previously closed at $500.23.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on META. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $410.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $405.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.28.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 2,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $958,392.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,053 shares in the company, valued at $4,757,883.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,439,788 shares of company stock valued at $684,542,792 over the last quarter. 14.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Bank of Stockton lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Signify Wealth acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $228,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. Keel Point LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.3% in the third quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 6,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,008,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $269,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $493.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $396.01.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.00 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 13.42%.

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.