Meta Platforms’ (META) “Strong-Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Raymond James

Raymond James restated their strong-buy rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $675.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on META. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. DA Davidson began coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.8 %

META stock opened at $569.20 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The business’s 50 day moving average is $574.75 and its 200-day moving average is $526.33.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 22.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 106,239 shares of company stock valued at $59,681,541 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 48.8% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,886,000 after buying an additional 16,138 shares during the period. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 541.8% during the 1st quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 3,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,862,000 after purchasing an additional 3,224 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $1,829,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 59.6% in the first quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 1,026 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $498,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clear Point Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.8% in the first quarter. Clear Point Advisors Inc. now owns 1,036 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $503,000 after purchasing an additional 75 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.