Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Receives $840.60 Average Target Price from Analysts

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-eight ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have assigned a hold recommendation, thirty-four have issued a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $840.5952.

META has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Susquehanna upgraded Meta Platforms from a “positive” rating to a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Benchmark started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $612.91 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $606.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $628.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.43 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 29.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta is developing a cloud business to sell excess AI computing capacity and AI model access lifted the stock, since it could turn prior AI spending into near-term revenue and reduce reliance on ads.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street reaction has been broadly constructive, with traders rotating into Meta while some AI infrastructure rivals sold off on fears of new competition from a company with major scale and cash flow.
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also named Alex Schultz as its first chief data officer and promoted Denise Moreno to chief marketing officer, a management change aimed at improving data-driven decision-making in the AI era.
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually heavy call-option activity showed traders positioning for more upside, reinforcing the market’s bullish tone but not changing the fundamental story by itself.
• Negative Sentiment: Separately, Meta lost a bid to dismiss a multistate lawsuit alleging Facebook and Instagram are addictive to children, keeping a legal overhang in place.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total value of $317,162.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,943 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,481,290.47. The trade was a 11.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 39,013 shares of company stock valued at $24,115,999. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Miller Global Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter. Miller Global Investments LLC now owns 2,704 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,523,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division now owns 1,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $741,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Adelphi Trust Co grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 30.3% during the second quarter. Adelphi Trust Co now owns 2,991 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,685,000 after buying an additional 696 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the second quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 143,920 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $81,069,000 after purchasing an additional 2,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co of the South increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 2,409 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,357,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.