Sanford C. Bernstein Increases Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $575.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price lifted by Sanford C. Bernstein from $565.00 to $575.00 in a report issued on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on META. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a market perform rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup decreased 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 report on Thursday, April 25th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $521.48.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 5.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $461.27 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $274.38 and a 52-week high of $542.81. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $493.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $473.94. The stock has a market cap of $1.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.23 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total value of $483,224.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,940 shares in the company, valued at $19,724,113. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total value of $194,752.40. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,268,235.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total transaction of $483,224.75. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,724,113. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 310,933 shares of company stock worth $154,451,206 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after buying an additional 1,083,719 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased 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 last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $11,285,855,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.