Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the forty-four research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation, thirty-seven have assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $510.41.

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Wolfe Research cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total transaction of $194,752.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,268,235.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total value of $194,752.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,268,235.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.00, for a total transaction of $431,685.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 41,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,778,805. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 604,890 shares of company stock valued at $297,429,900 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $90,891,055,000 after buying an additional 831,047 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $18,597,382,000 after purchasing an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $10,890,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,978 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $12,296,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,719 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $0.80 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $492.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,380,745 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,276,715. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $480.52 and a 200-day moving average of $437.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.31, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $258.88 and a 12-month high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

About Meta Platforms

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.