Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $562.00 Price Target at Rosenblatt Securities

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target increased by Rosenblatt Securities from $520.00 to $562.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Roth Mkm restated a buy rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, March 18th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $443.29 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $229.85 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $494.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $405.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $404.00, for a total value of $228,664.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,026,880. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $404.00, for a total value of $228,664.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,026,880. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,277,048 shares of company stock worth $620,679,759 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,469,906,000 after buying an additional 927,491 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after buying an additional 1,083,719 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.