Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Increased to $575.00 by Analysts at Piper Sandler

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price boosted by Piper Sandler from $545.00 to $575.00 in a report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC reissued an underperform rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an underperform rating and a $360.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an outperform rating and a $620.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $571.84.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock traded down $10.60 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $487.14. 16,013,270 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,364,963. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $274.38 and a fifty-two week high of $542.81. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $493.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $477.52. The company has a market cap of $1.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.63%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $2,386,617.30. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,272,152.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $2,386,617.30. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,272,152.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $4,223,529.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,580 shares in the company, valued at $35,190,573. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 310,685 shares of company stock valued at $154,398,206. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently 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.