Citizens Jmp Increases Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $900.00

Key Points

• Citizens Jmp raised its price target for Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.24% from the company's previous close.
• A number of analysts have increased their price targets for Meta, with Wedbush setting a target of $920.00 and KeyCorp at $905.00, while consensus remains at a "Moderate Buy" rating.
• Meta's recent earnings report showed an earnings per share of $7.14, significantly surpassing the consensus estimate of $5.75 and marking a 21.6% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its target price lifted by Citizens Jmp from $750.00 to $900.00 in a report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the social networking company's stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $808.00 target price (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $820.32.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META traded down $23.43 during trading on Thursday, hitting $750.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 18,985,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,087,110. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $701.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $645.68. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $450.80 and a 12 month high of $784.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.16 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 152,980 shares of company stock worth $105,708,832 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

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.