Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading 0% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price traded up 0% on Tuesday after Tigress Financial raised their price target on the stock from $645.00 to $935.00. Tigress Financial currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $718.47 and last traded at $717.76. 3,389,246 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 15,414,232 shares. The stock had previously closed at $717.40.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $717.90.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 14,746 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.53, for a total transaction of $8,162,353.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 812,198 shares of company stock valued at $515,102,208. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $634.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $579.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

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.