Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Upgraded at Arete Research

Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $718.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. TD Cowen cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $915.00 to $850.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $840.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Benchmark cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $821.63.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $673.42 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $673.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $706.52. The stock has a market cap of $1.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $6.03 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.28%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total value of $365,610.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,347 shares in the company, valued at $4,476,894.45. This represents a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,610 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total value of $1,590,690.60. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,962,956.64. This represents a 21.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 41,959 shares of company stock valued at $26,671,107 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the second quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,506 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,587,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. Pachira Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Hemington Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,223 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co of the South lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 1,850 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the third quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.