DA Davidson Raises Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $800.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its price target raised by DA Davidson from $700.00 to $800.00 in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company's stock. DA Davidson also issued estimates for Meta Platforms' Q1 2025 earnings at $5.45 EPS.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. Finally, Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $687.00 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $611.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $564.44. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.72, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $387.10 and a 1 year high of $710.79. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.74% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 25.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,131 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $652,767.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,229 shares in the company, valued at $709,329.64. This trade represents a 47.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total value of $511,497.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,581 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,360,833.70. This trade represents a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 9,500,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.8% in 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 buying an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.

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