Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Expected to Rise, KeyCorp Analyst Says

Key Points

• KeyCorp raised its price target for Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.88% from the company's previous close, while maintaining an "overweight" rating.
• Meta Platforms recently reported earnings of $7.14 per share, surpassing estimates of $5.75, with revenue reaching $47.52 billion, up 21.6% year-over-year.
• Several brokerages have recently adjusted their price targets for Meta, with Scotiabank raising theirs to $675.00 and Wedbush to $920.00, reflecting varying levels of confidence in the company's performance.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its target price upped by KeyCorp from $800.00 to $905.00 in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company's stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. TD Securities lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $815.09.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $16.80 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $756.64. The stock had a trading volume of 6,407,317 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,560,782. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $450.80 and a 1-year high of $784.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.46, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.28. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $699.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $644.61.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 40.31%. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. The company's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total transaction of $1,691,609.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $715.00, for a total value of $369,655.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 5,785 shares in the company, valued at $4,136,275. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 152,980 shares of company stock valued at $105,708,832 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Valley Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Pachira Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the second quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the second quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,223 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,641,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $335,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

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.