Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Receives “Market Perform” Rating from BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed their market perform rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has a $450.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $545.00 target price (down from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an underperform rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $510.41.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of META opened at $504.16 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $480.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $442.26. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $271.42 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $452,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 40,560 shares in the company, valued at $20,280,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $452,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 40,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,280,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $441.54, for a total transaction of $216,354.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,913,722.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 437,528 shares of company stock valued at $215,768,262 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,352 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $656,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Jackson Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $599,000. American Trust boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. American Trust now owns 3,179 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,544,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. OMC Financial Services LTD bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $4,355,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,823,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. 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.