Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $550.00 at Truist Financial

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target hoisted by Truist Financial from $525.00 to $550.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on META. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $410.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $465.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $519.53.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.1 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $481.07 on Wednesday. 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 50-day simple moving average is $494.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $398.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.29, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $207.13 and a 52 week high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 13.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.90, for a total transaction of $3,500,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,086,721.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.90, for a total transaction of $3,500,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,086,721.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.36, for a total transaction of $7,722,037.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,421,182 shares of company stock worth $677,574,550. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $66,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.5% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,244,201 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $499,020,000 after buying an additional 249,926 shares in the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 284.0% in the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 3,356 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $746,000 after buying an additional 2,482 shares in the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $813,000. Finally, Oxford Financial Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 26.9% in the 1st quarter. Oxford Financial Group Ltd. now owns 1,888 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $420,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. 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.