Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Research Coverage Started at Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $660.00 price target on the social networking company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ FY2024 earnings at $22.38 EPS.

META has been the topic of several other reports. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Benchmark reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $576.66.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $500.27 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $279.40 and a 12-month high of $544.23. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $505.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $494.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 21.3 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at $62,254,449.63. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 390,977 shares of company stock valued at $202,384,548. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Vantage Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $468,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management raised its position in Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,308 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 45.7% during the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $815,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares during the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 66.4% in the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,993 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,413,000 after buying an additional 1,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rollins Financial raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Rollins Financial now owns 30,657 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,851,000 after buying an additional 2,133 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.