Piper Sandler Reiterates Overweight Rating for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Piper Sandler reissued their overweight rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $545.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $600.00.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on META. Susquehanna increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Citigroup increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ META opened at $443.29 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.68. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $229.85 and a one year high of $531.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $494.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $405.39.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 34,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,026,880. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,277,048 shares of company stock valued at $620,679,759 over the last quarter. 13.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. S.A. Mason LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $645,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the first quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the first quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 435 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. LongView Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the first quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $856,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Madison Wealth Partners Inc raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $502,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.