Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading 1.6% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 1.6% on Wednesday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $690.00 to $765.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $736.65 and last traded at $732.48. 4,647,678 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 15,867,658 shares. The stock had previously closed at $720.67.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $812.00 price objective (up previously from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $803.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $727.95.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.51, for a total value of $370,952.67. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 7,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,263,653.36. The trade was a 6.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $737.00, for a total value of $382,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,626 shares in the company, valued at $20,360,362. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 153,273 shares of company stock worth $105,091,830. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Valley Financial Group Inc. increased its position 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 buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,743,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Maiden Cove Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,251,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. The company has a market cap of $1.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $669.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $632.53.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

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.