Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Increased to $510.00 by Analysts at Roth Mkm

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective increased by Roth Mkm from $500.00 to $510.00 in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on META. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $441.38 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.35, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $495.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $403.40. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $208.88 and a one year high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.37%. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% during the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% during the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.