Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $875.00 Price Target at Stifel Nicolaus

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price lowered by Stifel Nicolaus from $900.00 to $875.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $1,086.00 to $1,117.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $980.00 price target (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $811.00 to $837.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $915.00 to $850.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold 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 $827.60.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $666.47 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a fifty day moving average of $740.41 and a 200-day moving average of $695.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.69%. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.28%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.97, for a total value of $333,391.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,697,760.59. This trade represents a 5.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.00, for a total transaction of $390,807.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,900,268. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 198,335 shares of company stock valued at $153,047,009. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,568 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after acquiring an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $37,902,948,000 after acquiring an additional 682,768 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $23,155,393,000. 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.