Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given “Market Outperform” Rating at JMP Securities

JMP Securities restated their market outperform rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $750.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on META. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $655.41.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $676.49 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.86, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $608.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $563.58. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $387.10 and a 12 month high of $682.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders 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 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction of $234,410.54. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,294 shares in the company, valued at $5,842,668.52. This trade represents a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total value of $24,195,307.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 661,312 shares of company stock worth $407,377,422. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,089 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,559,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 39.4% during the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 13,445 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,779,000 after purchasing an additional 3,799 shares during the last quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $7,115,000. Finally, Invst LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 18.1% in the 2nd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 6,095 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,076,000 after buying an additional 936 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.