Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $575.00 Price Target at Sanford C. Bernstein

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

META has been the topic of a number of other research reports. BMO Capital Markets restated a market perform rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $525.66.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $453.41 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $274.38 and a 1 year high of $542.81. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $493.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $473.80. The firm has a market cap of $1.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.80, for a total transaction of $443,269.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,206,674. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $445.93, for a total transaction of $218,505.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,724,186.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.80, for a total transaction of $443,269.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,206,674. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 311,348 shares of company stock valued at $154,678,120. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after acquiring an additional 244,803 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,083,719 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $11,285,855,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.