Weekly Investment Analysts’ Ratings Updates for Meta Platforms (META)

Posted by James Conley on Oct 11th, 2024

A number of firms have modified their ratings and price targets on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) recently:

10/11/2024 – Meta Platforms is now covered by analysts at Scotiabank. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $585.00 price target on the stock.
10/11/2024 – Meta Platforms had its price target raised by analysts at Roth Mkm from $550.00 to $620.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
10/10/2024 – Meta Platforms had its price target raised by analysts at Raymond James from $600.00 to $650.00. They now have a “strong-buy” rating on the stock.
10/10/2024 – Meta Platforms had its price target raised by analysts at Truist Financial Co. from $570.00 to $650.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
10/9/2024 – Meta Platforms had its price target raised by analysts at KeyCorp from $560.00 to $655.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
10/9/2024 – Meta Platforms had its price target raised by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $475.00 to $525.00. They now have a “market perform” rating on the stock.
10/7/2024 – Meta Platforms had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald. They now have a $660.00 price target on the stock.
10/7/2024 – Meta Platforms had its price target raised by analysts at UBS Group AG from $635.00 to $690.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
10/7/2024 – Meta Platforms had its price target raised by analysts at Guggenheim from $600.00 to $665.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
10/2/2024 – Meta Platforms had its price target raised by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $647.00 to $652.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
10/1/2024 – Meta Platforms is now covered by analysts at Pivotal Research. They set a “buy” rating and a $780.00 price target on the stock.
9/30/2024 – Meta Platforms had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald. They now have a $660.00 price target on the stock.
9/30/2024 – Meta Platforms had its price target raised by analysts at Monness Crespi & Hardt from $570.00 to $620.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
9/26/2024 – Meta Platforms had its price target raised by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $610.00 to $640.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
9/26/2024 – Meta Platforms had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Wedbush. They now have a $600.00 price target on the stock.
9/26/2024 – Meta Platforms had its price target raised by analysts at Robert W. Baird from $530.00 to $605.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
9/26/2024 – Meta Platforms had its price target raised by analysts at JMP Securities from $550.00 to $635.00. They now have a “market outperform” rating on the stock.
9/26/2024 – Meta Platforms had its price target raised by analysts at Rosenblatt Securities from $643.00 to $811.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
9/26/2024 – Meta Platforms had its price target raised by analysts at Bank of America Co. from $563.00 to $630.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
9/23/2024 – Meta Platforms had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald. They now have a $660.00 price target on the stock.
9/23/2024 – Meta Platforms had its price target raised by analysts at Citigroup Inc. from $580.00 to $645.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
9/10/2024 – Meta Platforms is now covered by analysts at DA Davidson. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock.
9/5/2024 – Meta Platforms is now covered by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald. They set an “overweight” rating and a $660.00 price target on the stock.
9/4/2024 – Meta Platforms had its “underperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Needham & Company LLC.
8/16/2024 – Meta Platforms had its price target raised by analysts at Tigress Financial from $575.00 to $645.00. They now have a “strong-buy” rating on the stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of META stock traded up $6.12 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $589.95. The company had a trading volume of 8,579,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,361,877. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $536.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $504.92. The company has a market capitalization of $1.49 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $279.40 and a twelve month high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.89, for a total value of $533,850.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,172,468.33. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were 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 approximately $62,254,449.63. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 252,443 shares of company stock worth $133,105,284 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.7% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,733,731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,748,620 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $595,152,000. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $515,383,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.