Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $650.00 Price Target at Raymond James

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target upped by Raymond James from $600.00 to $650.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Raymond James currently has a strong-buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $643.00 to $811.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $660.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $609.71.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ META opened at $589.95 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The company has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $538.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $505.59. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $279.40 and a one year high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 21.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.42, for a total transaction of $453,785.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,068,669.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at $62,254,449.63. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. 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 that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.42, for a total value of $453,785.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,068,669.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 252,443 shares of company stock worth $133,105,284 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.