Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $530.00 at BMO Capital Markets

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price upped by BMO Capital Markets from $525.00 to $530.00 in a report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Loop Capital upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.37.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded up $3.36 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $570.94. The company had a trading volume of 8,536,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,126,646. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $555.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $512.56. The company has a market capitalization of $1.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $308.33 and a 1 year high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.26% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 21.47 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,034,122.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 251,573 shares of company stock worth $133,019,910 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of META. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $28,431,000. Equitable Trust Co. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 62.3% in the 3rd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 17,045 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $9,757,000 after purchasing an additional 6,541 shares during the period. Beckerman Institutional LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,469,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,009 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,157,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the period. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.3% in the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 30,347 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $17,372,000 after purchasing an additional 3,075 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is 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.