Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $800.00 at Susquehanna

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its price target hoisted by Susquehanna from $675.00 to $800.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Susquehanna currently has a positive rating on the social networking company's stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on META. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $730.00 to $720.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of META stock traded up $10.51 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $687.00. 29,291,306 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,714,160. The business has a 50 day moving average of $608.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $563.58. 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 has a 52 week low of $387.10 and a 52 week high of $710.79. 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.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total transaction of $602,730.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,510,470. This represents a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 662,217 shares of company stock valued at $407,980,152. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,365,820,000 after buying an additional 4,126,190 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 87,269.8% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,067,659 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $625,125,000 after buying an additional 1,066,437 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $520,662,000 after buying an additional 890,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 worth $27,470,870,000 after buying an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.