The Goldman Sachs Group Boosts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $690.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price boosted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $685.00 to $690.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $624.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $597.02 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $575.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $603.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.19%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $676.00, for a total transaction of $279,188.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,443,524. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,928,185,000 after purchasing an additional 204,412 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 9.1% during the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 3,219 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,842,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 2,853 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,633,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the period. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 17,048 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,704,000 after acquiring an additional 1,480 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.