Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Rating Reiterated by JMP Securities

JMP Securities reaffirmed their market outperform rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. JMP Securities currently has a $550.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $441.38 on Monday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $208.88 and a one year high of $531.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $495.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $403.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $404.00, for a total value of $228,664.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 34,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,026,880. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $404.00, for a total transaction of $228,664.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,026,880. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.75, for a total value of $253,697.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,924,027.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after purchasing an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Stockton raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Signify Wealth bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $79,212,000 after acquiring an additional 4,025 shares during the period. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.