Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading 1.5% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price traded up 1.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Piper Sandler raised their price target on the stock from $650.00 to $670.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $625.59 and last traded at $623.07. 3,437,994 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 14,782,405 shares. The stock had previously closed at $613.57.

META has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $635.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.57, for a total transaction of $214,995.41. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 13,185 shares in the company, valued at $6,863,715.45. This trade represents a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total transaction of $11,150,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 338,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $188,810,838.24. This trade represents a 5.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 164,201 shares of company stock worth $95,420,559 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $36,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $580.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $534.10. The company has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 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.