Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 1.8% Following Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) rose 1.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Raymond James raised their price target on the stock from $675.00 to $725.00. Raymond James currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $629.69 and last traded at $627.85. Approximately 3,962,415 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 12,377,900 shares. The stock had previously closed at $616.46.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on META. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $652.98.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total transaction of $524,990.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 31,482 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. This trade represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 567,111 shares of company stock valued at $345,453,784. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.1 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $598.87 and a 200-day moving average of $558.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

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.