Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $800.00 Price Target at TD Cowen

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its price objective raised by TD Cowen from $700.00 to $800.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company's stock.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on META. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $664.00 to $783.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Truist Financial raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $727.95.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META traded down $8.42 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $724.36. The company had a trading volume of 5,662,705 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,845,086. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $747.90. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $669.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $632.53. The firm has a market cap of $1.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

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

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 13,806 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $10,190,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Global Financial Private Client LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 4,279 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,158,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. HF Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,612 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,618,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 5,149 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,801,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares during the period. Finally, Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 86,986 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $64,204,000 after acquiring an additional 3,690 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

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.