Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) PT Raised to $580.00 at Citigroup

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price hoisted by Citigroup from $550.00 to $580.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on META. BMO Capital Markets reissued a market perform rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Raymond James raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Benchmark reissued a hold rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a market outperform rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $571.84.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $10.78 during trading on Thursday, reaching $477.36. The stock had a trading volume of 11,563,325 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,388,426. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $494.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $479.87. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $274.38 and a 52 week high of $542.81. The company has a market capitalization of $1.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 576 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total transaction of $268,606.08. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,819,124.11. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 576 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total value of $268,606.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,819,124.11. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $2,386,617.30. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,272,152.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 310,685 shares of company stock worth $154,398,206. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,719 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the first 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 acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $11,285,855,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.