Meta Platforms’ (META) “Strong-Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Raymond James

Raymond James restated their strong-buy rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $800.00 price target on the social networking company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $725.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $687.00 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $387.10 and a fifty-two week high of $710.79. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $611.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $564.44. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.74% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 25.44 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.36%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total transaction of $602,730.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,510,470. This represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Hoge Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Hoge Financial Services LLC now owns 2,248 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $648,000. Topel & Distasi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. Topel & Distasi Wealth Management LLC now owns 958 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Mainsail Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 25.8% during the 4th quarter. Mainsail Asset Management LLC now owns 594 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Monument Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 167.3% in the fourth quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 2,088 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,307 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.