Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $930.00 at Pivotal Research

Key Points

• Investment analysts at Pivotal Research have raised their price target for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) from $830.00 to $930.00, suggesting a potential upside of 33.77% from the current price.
• Meta's recent quarterly earnings report showed an EPS of $7.14, surpassing analysts' expectations of $5.75, with revenue of $47.52 billion that also exceeded estimates.
• Despite a strong buy outlook from several analysts, insider sales have been noted, including a COO selling 517 shares valued at $369,655, reflecting a 8.20% decrease in their ownership.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its price objective boosted by Pivotal Research from $830.00 to $930.00 in a research note released on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. Pivotal Research currently has a buy rating on the social networking company's stock.

META has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $807.00 to $828.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Moffett Nathanson boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $815.09.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.0%

NASDAQ:META traded down $15.63 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $757.81. 4,695,266 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,549,814. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $699.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $644.61. The firm has a market cap of $1.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.38, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $450.80 and a fifty-two week high of $784.75.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The company 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 40.31% 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 in the previous year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 152,980 shares of company stock worth $105,708,832. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in 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 during the period. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.