Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Reaches New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $660.00 to $710.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as high as $646.95 and last traded at $641.15, with a volume of 4873264 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $636.45.

META has been the subject of several other research reports. Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued 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 price target of $654.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total transaction of $22,515,282.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,751,000 after buying an additional 7,089 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,938,574 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $977,468,000 after purchasing an additional 7,539 shares during the last quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $352,000. Unisphere Establishment grew its position in Meta Platforms by 235.0% in the 2nd quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 33,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,891,000 after purchasing an additional 23,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wick Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.1% during the second quarter. Wick Capital Partners LLC now owns 598 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $600.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $559.30. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

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.