Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Increased to $600.00 by Analysts at Guggenheim

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price lifted by Guggenheim from $500.00 to $600.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $570.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reissued an underperform rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $571.84.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $8.37 on Thursday, reaching $489.37. The stock had a trading volume of 15,338,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,362,201. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $493.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $477.52. The stock has a market cap of $1.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $274.38 and a fifty-two week high of $542.81.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.63% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.26 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,135 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $535,549.75. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,130,103.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 310,685 shares of company stock valued at $154,398,206. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 63.1% during the second quarter. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,236 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,136,000 after buying an additional 1,639 shares during the last quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 7,045 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,552,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 8,259 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,164,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.3% during the second quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 8,332 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,201,000 after purchasing an additional 977 shares during the period. Finally, Oxinas Partners Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 125.9% in the second quarter. Oxinas Partners Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,322 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294 shares in 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.