Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Rating Reiterated by Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research note published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a $660.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the topic of several other research reports. Wolfe Research began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an outperform rating and a $620.00 price objective on the stock. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $625.00 to $647.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $598.08.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $572.81 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $583.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $521.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $501.35.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.00, for a total value of $235,410.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 12,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,044,630. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.00, for a total transaction of $235,410.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 12,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,044,630. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total value of $483,224.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,940 shares in the company, valued at $19,724,113. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 308,462 shares of company stock valued at $162,308,065 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vantage Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,888,308 shares during the period. Rollins Financial boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Rollins Financial now owns 30,657 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,851,000 after buying an additional 2,133 shares during the period. Prudent Man Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $533,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 31,943 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $11,307,000 after acquiring an additional 4,612 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.