Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $900.00

Key Points

Error: Response status code does not indicate success: 429 (Too Many Requests).

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its price target lifted by Raymond James Financial from $750.00 to $900.00 in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a strong-buy rating on the social networking company's stock.

META has been the topic of a number of other reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Finally, Moffett Nathanson lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $815.09.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META traded down $18.91 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $754.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,418,796 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,580,731. The company's 50-day moving average is $699.22 and its 200-day moving average is $644.61. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $450.80 and a 52 week high of $784.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.16 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total value of $336,232.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 9,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,755,013.36. The trade was a 4.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $719.86, for a total transaction of $373,607.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 25,550 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,392,423. This represents a 1.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 152,980 shares of company stock valued at $105,708,832. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,223 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC grew its stake 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 last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.