Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $725.00 Price Target at Guggenheim

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price boosted by Guggenheim from $675.00 to $725.00 in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Guggenheim currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on META. Roth Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $688.63.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 4.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $572.21 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business’s 50 day moving average is $576.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $603.54. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $432.28 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.92, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 237,017 shares of company stock valued at $167,207,524. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently 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.