Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $588.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target upped by Stifel Nicolaus from $527.00 to $588.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $465.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $519.53.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 4.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $481.07 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $207.13 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.29, a P/E/G 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $494.55 and its 200 day moving average is $398.64.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.00 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $388.90, for a total value of $3,500,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,086,721.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,421,182 shares of company stock worth $677,574,550 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. 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 purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.