Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $550.00 at Truist Financial

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective hoisted by Truist Financial from $525.00 to $550.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the subject of a number of other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $465.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $509.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $494.17 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.17, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $493.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $396.70. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $207.13 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business 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 company posted $3.00 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.75, for a total value of $253,697.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,924,027.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock valued at $684,796,490 over the last 90 days. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $44,000. Clear Investment Research LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.