Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-three brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation, thirty-five have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $718.55.

Several analysts recently commented on META shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.42, for a total transaction of $8,023,999.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 420,215 shares in the company, valued at $259,869,360.30. This trade represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $612.10, for a total value of $252,797.30. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,467,522.10. This trade represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 549,113 shares of company stock valued at $364,668,246 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after buying an additional 204,412 shares in the last quarter. United Bank raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 22.2% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,188,000 after buying an additional 1,011 shares in the last quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 604.0% during the 3rd quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 9,920 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,679,000 after buying an additional 8,511 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $14,999,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $504.73 on Friday. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $648.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $609.75. The company has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.