Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Receives $634.10 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-three ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $634.10.

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total value of $511,497.70. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total value of $511,497.70. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.09, for a total value of $8,836,861.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,110,002.71. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 194,714 shares of company stock worth $103,811,069. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $46,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $584.82 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $563.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $517.29. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $313.66 and a 1 year high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 22.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

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.