Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $770.00 at Truist Financial

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target upped by Truist Financial from $700.00 to $770.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $687.00 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $611.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $564.44. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $387.10 and a 52 week high of $710.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 25.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders 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 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,908.60. This trade represents a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This trade represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.