Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Sets New 52-Week High - Here's Why

Key Points

• Meta Platforms shares reached a new 52-week high of $790.00, closing at $785.83 with a trading volume of over 3.6 million shares.
• Analysts have largely revised their price targets upwards, with Loop Capital setting a new target of $980.00, while the average consensus price target is $822.41.
• Meta reported impressive earnings with $7.14 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing expectations and showing a 21.6% revenue increase year-over-year.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $790.00 and last traded at $785.83, with a volume of 3600357 shares. The stock had previously closed at $765.87.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. Loop Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $980.00 price target (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $828.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.9%

The firm has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $716.43 and a 200-day moving average of $652.13.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. The company's revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.60%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $760.26, for a total transaction of $393,054.42. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 5,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,005,049.68. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 15,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $767.80, for a total value of $11,517,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 222,205 shares in the company, valued at $170,608,999. The trade was a 6.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 289,356 shares of company stock worth $211,138,344. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $2,990,544,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

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