Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Roth Capital Analyst Says

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price hoisted by Roth Capital from $580.00 to $620.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Roth Capital currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock. Roth Capital also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q2 2026 earnings at $6.32 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $6.48 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $8.50 EPS.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $786.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 4.3 %

META opened at $597.02 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $575.29 and a 200-day moving average of $603.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $676.00, for a total value of $279,188.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,443,524. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $706.72, for a total value of $9,169,692.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $121,588,349.12. The trade was a 7.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Saturna Capital Corp raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.1% during the first quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 4,439 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,558,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the period. Carson Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 1,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $836,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 280,081 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $161,427,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Sachetta LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.8% in the first quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 900 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $519,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burling Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.5% in the first quarter. Burling Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,884 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,850,000 after buying an additional 1,318 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by 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.