Truist Financial Boosts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $720.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its price objective upped by Truist Financial from $700.00 to $720.00 in a research note published on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company's stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $615.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Benchmark cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Needham & Company LLC restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Two equities research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $688.63.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded up $24.81 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $597.02. 24,702,127 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,463,489. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $575.29 and a 200-day moving average of $603.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. 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 P/E ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company's stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. The trade was 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 available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $676.00, for a total transaction of $279,188.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,449 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,443,524. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 237,017 shares of company stock valued at $167,207,524 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. 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.