Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $740.00 Price Target at Robert W. Baird

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price hoisted by Robert W. Baird from $635.00 to $740.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target 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. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.29.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $716.91 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $747.90. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $658.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $629.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The company has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 154,285 shares of company stock worth $105,518,153. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Hawaiian Bank increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.6% during the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 1,394 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at about $1,441,000. Lam Group Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter. Lam Group Inc. now owns 958 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $707,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. McLean Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 28.2% in the 2nd quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 1,880 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,341,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Capital Advisors llc increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 1,871 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,381,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.