Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 4.8% After Analyst Upgrade

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Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:METAGet Free Report) shares rose 4.8% during trading on Friday after Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on the stock from $624.00 to $676.00. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $597.47 and last traded at $599.41. Approximately 9,440,482 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 34% from the average daily volume of 14,411,863 shares. The stock had previously closed at $572.21.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Roth Capital raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $696.45.

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Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

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In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total value of $643,414.64. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,607,740.16. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Saturna Capital Corp grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.1% in the first quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 4,439 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,558,000 after buying an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 1,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $836,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the first quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 280,081 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $161,427,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Sachetta LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 900 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $519,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burling Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 12.5% in the first quarter. Burling Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,884 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,850,000 after acquiring an additional 1,318 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 4.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day moving average of $575.29 and a 200-day moving average of $603.62.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

About Meta Platforms

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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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