Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-three research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $638.00.

Several equities research analysts have commented on META shares. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of META stock opened at $591.24 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $340.01 and a 12-month high of $638.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $587.80 and a 200-day moving average of $546.38. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $583.73, for a total value of $241,080.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,973,238.58. This represents a 3.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 326,211 shares of company stock valued at $197,633,759. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2,000.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 105 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during 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.