Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the forty-three brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $717.90.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total transaction of $511,596.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,362,687. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 810,217 shares of company stock valued at $523,808,864 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in Meta Platforms by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,321,997 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $774,042,000 after purchasing an additional 324,144 shares during the last quarter. Griffith & Werner Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,533,000. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $494,000. Amiral Gestion acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $21,610,000. Finally, Michels Family Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,509,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $694.84 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $645.83 and its 200 day moving average is $589.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

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.