Rosenblatt Securities Boosts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $562.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price boosted by Rosenblatt Securities from $520.00 to $562.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Rosenblatt Securities currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the subject of several other research reports. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $443.29 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $494.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $404.85. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $229.85 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 68,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,574,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at $18,288,255. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 68,935 shares in the company, valued at $27,574,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,469,906,000 after buying an additional 927,491 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after buying an additional 1,083,719 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.