Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-four ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $520.28.

A number of research firms have issued reports on META. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.18, for a total value of $245,578.20. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,552,865.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.76, for a total value of $7,769,271.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.18, for a total transaction of $245,578.20. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,089 shares in the company, valued at $3,552,865.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,368,244 shares of company stock worth $657,034,449 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $159,841,000 after purchasing an additional 32,423 shares during the period. Bank of Stockton increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Signify Wealth purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $79,212,000 after buying an additional 4,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,880,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $493.50 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.12, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $495.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $403.14. 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.00 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.42%.

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.