Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Barclays Analyst Says

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its price objective raised by Barclays from $630.00 to $705.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company's stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on META. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $700.00 price target (up from $680.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $703.38.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $10.51 during trading on Thursday, hitting $687.00. The stock had a trading volume of 29,271,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,711,077. The company has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.36, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm's fifty day moving average is $608.52 and its 200 day moving average is $563.58. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $387.10 and a 12 month high of $710.79.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total value of $234,410.54. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. The trade was a 3.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 661,312 shares of company stock worth $407,377,422 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after acquiring an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after acquiring an additional 118,298 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $4,101,602,000 after purchasing an additional 186,728 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.