Raymond James Increases Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $725.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its price objective increased by Raymond James from $675.00 to $725.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a strong-buy rating on the social networking company's stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on META. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $651.27.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.6 %

Meta Platforms stock traded up $3.69 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $616.46. The stock had a trading volume of 11,584,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,100,104. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $598.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $558.31. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $381.16 and a 12 month high of $638.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total transaction of $524,990.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,707 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,147,531.12. This trade represents a 3.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 531,190 shares of company stock valued at $322,938,501 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in 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 buying an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position 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 acquiring 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 third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

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.