DA Davidson Initiates Coverage on Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $600.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock. DA Davidson also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q3 2024 earnings at $5.25 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $21.45 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $24.56 EPS.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $625.00 to $647.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JMP Securities reiterated a market outperform rating and issued a $525.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $577.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.2 %

META opened at $524.62 on Tuesday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $505.13 and its 200 day moving average is $495.37. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $544.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.13, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at $62,254,449.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 357,574 shares of company stock worth $185,587,773. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. S.A. Mason LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Front Row Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 371 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Northern Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Buckingham Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 433 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.