Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 0.4% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shot up 0.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $647.00 to $652.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $576.74 and last traded at $575.21. 2,124,500 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 15,481,272 shares. The stock had previously closed at $572.81.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. TD Cowen increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Pivotal Research began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $780.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $598.08.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.75, for a total transaction of $8,864,586.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 169,372 shares in the company, valued at $89,894,189. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 300,228 shares of company stock valued at $158,005,260. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. jvl associates llc boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 21.6% in the third quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 951 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $544,000 after buying an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,463 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,700,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 670 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $393,000. Finally, Abacus Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 39.0% in the 3rd quarter. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.3 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $524.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $501.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.23 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 11.49%.

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.