Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $700.00 Price Target at Truist Financial

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target raised by Truist Financial from $650.00 to $700.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on META. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $638.00.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $595.57 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $340.01 and a 1-year high of $638.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $585.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $541.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $569.93, for a total value of $5,699,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 328,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $187,314,333.66. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 287,879 shares of company stock valued at $174,127,704 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $49,000. 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.