Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Upgraded at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) from an underperform rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $676.00 to $807.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.29.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of META opened at $716.91 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $658.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $630.04. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $747.90. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $740.97, for a total value of $383,081.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 7,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,818,837.41. This trade represents a 6.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total value of $1,691,609.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 154,285 shares of company stock valued at $105,518,153 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,777,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $19,949,512,000. Hedge funds and other 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.