Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading 0.1% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shot up 0.1% on Tuesday after Raymond James raised their price target on the stock from $675.00 to $725.00. Raymond James currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $621.50 and last traded at $613.50. 3,201,222 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 12,363,796 shares. The stock had previously closed at $612.77.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on META. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $652.98.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total value of $22,515,282.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 567,111 shares of company stock worth $345,453,784. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $49,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company’s 50 day moving average is $598.87 and its 200 day moving average is $558.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

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.