Stifel Nicolaus Boosts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $588.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target upped by Stifel Nicolaus from $527.00 to $588.00 in a research note published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Roth Mkm reiterated a buy rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, March 18th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $519.53.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $501.80 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.68, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. The business’s fifty day moving average is $494.29 and its 200 day moving average is $397.43. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $207.13 and a 52-week high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.00 EPS. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.06 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $384.54, for a total value of $7,568,131.74. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.54, for a total value of $7,568,131.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,421,182 shares of company stock valued at $677,574,550. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after purchasing an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Stockton boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Signify Wealth purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $228,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keel Point LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 6,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,008,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.