Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Meta Platforms, Inc. received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from 47 research firms, with 39 analysts recommending a buy and three issuing a strong buy rating.
• The stock's average 12-month price target is $826.05, with several brokerages increasing their target prices significantly in recent reports.
• Meta recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, which will be paid on September 29th, representing an annual yield of 0.3%.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the forty-seven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirty-nine have given a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $826.0455.

Several brokerages have issued reports on META. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $783.00 to $811.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $980.00 price objective (up previously from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $743.75 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.24. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $751.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $670.49. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $769.20, for a total transaction of $399,214.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 30,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,345,989.20. This represents a 1.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $757.47, for a total value of $352,223.55. Following the sale, the director owned 8,412 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,371,837.64. This represents a 5.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 230,336 shares of company stock worth $176,625,049. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 103.5% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,998,624 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,475,166,000 after acquiring an additional 1,016,667 shares during the last quarter. TradeWell Securities LLC. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. TradeWell Securities LLC. now owns 14,912 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $11,007,000 after acquiring an additional 771 shares during the last quarter. CacheTech Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the 2nd quarter. CacheTech Inc. now owns 1,923 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,421,000 after acquiring an additional 759 shares during the last quarter. Momentum Wealth Planning LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth $4,581,000. Finally, Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 298 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $220,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.

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