Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) PT Raised to $590.00 at Citigroup

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective lifted by Citigroup from $525.00 to $590.00 in a report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $405.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $414.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $519.53.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of META stock opened at $501.80 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $207.13 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $494.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $397.43. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.00 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,723,496.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,421,182 shares of company stock worth $677,574,550. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 1,606 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $780,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,840 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $9,634,000 after buying an additional 1,624 shares during the last quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. now owns 5,409 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,627,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 50.9% during the 1st quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 8,952 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,347,000 after buying an additional 3,019 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Myecfo LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 22.7% during the 1st quarter. Myecfo LLC now owns 993 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $482,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.