Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Hits New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $593.00 to $625.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $542.75 and last traded at $542.75, with a volume of 252591 shares. The stock had previously closed at $539.91.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on META. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total transaction of $1,007,350.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,932 shares in the company, valued at $159,759,417.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total transaction of $1,007,350.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 318,932 shares in the company, valued at $159,759,417.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total value of $291,675.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,853,183.67. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 260,459 shares of company stock worth $128,049,749. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after buying an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,597,382,000 after acquiring an additional 244,803 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,719 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $11,285,855,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.1 %

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $488.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $464.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. The company has a market cap of $1.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s 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.