Oppenheimer Issues Positive Forecast for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target lifted by Oppenheimer from $650.00 to $665.00 in a research report released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $695.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $688.63.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $572.21 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $432.28 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $576.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $603.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.71 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $676.00, for a total value of $279,188.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,443,524. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $702.24, for a total value of $635,527.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,390 shares in the company, valued at $19,936,593.60. This represents a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.