Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Increased to $635.00 by Analysts at UBS Group

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price raised by UBS Group from $630.00 to $635.00 in a research report report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities restated a market outperform rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an outperform rating and a $620.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $625.00 to $647.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $571.84.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $9.60 during trading on Thursday, hitting $488.14. 22,851,629 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,412,488. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $493.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $477.52. The stock has a market cap of $1.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $274.38 and a 12-month high of $542.81.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 576 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total transaction of $268,606.08. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,819,124.11. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 576 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total value of $268,606.08. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,819,124.11. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total value of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 630,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $300,466,976.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 310,685 shares of company stock worth $154,398,206 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,752,900,000 after buying an additional 4,908,251 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after buying an additional 4,440,229 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after buying an additional 3,888,308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.