Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Upgraded at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) from an underperform rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on META. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $812.00 price objective (up from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Wedbush raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Securities lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.29.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $716.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $747.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $655.49 and its 200-day moving average is $629.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $737.00, for a total transaction of $382,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 27,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,360,362. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total transaction of $1,691,609.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 154,285 shares of company stock worth $105,518,153. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of META. Valley Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $344,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $335,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by 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.