Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading 1.1% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $690.00 to $803.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $713.19 and last traded at $706.27. 4,784,171 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 14,461,705 shares. The stock had previously closed at $698.53.

META has been the topic of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $664.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $712.69.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $710.24, for a total transaction of $9,796,340.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 57,533 shares in the company, valued at $40,862,237.92. The trade was a 19.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 1,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 124,312 shares of company stock worth $83,503,034 over the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rainier Family Wealth Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.7% during the first quarter. Rainier Family Wealth Inc. now owns 1,094 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $631,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 3,620,086 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,085,387,000 after purchasing an additional 107,959 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the first quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 75,532 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $43,533,000 after purchasing an additional 3,787 shares during the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the first quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory now owns 1,832 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,056,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peterson Wealth Management increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 40.6% in the first quarter. Peterson Wealth Management now owns 485 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.5%

The business has a fifty day moving average of $629.38 and a 200 day moving average of $624.96. The firm has a market cap of $1.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.19%.

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.