Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $690.00 Price Target at Bank of America

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its price target boosted by Bank of America from $640.00 to $690.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the social networking company's stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on META. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $624.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Raymond James decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $688.63.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META traded up $24.81 during trading on Thursday, hitting $597.02. The stock had a trading volume of 24,702,127 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,463,489. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $575.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $603.62. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.17, for a total value of $502,101.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,577 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,488,983.09. This represents a 3.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. 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.