The Goldman Sachs Group Raises Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $555.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target raised by The Goldman Sachs Group from $500.00 to $555.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on META. Citigroup raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $519.53.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $501.80 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $494.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $397.43. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $207.13 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 13.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.54, for a total transaction of $7,568,131.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.54, for a total value of $7,568,131.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,421,182 shares of company stock worth $677,574,550 in the last three months. 13.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. S.A. Mason LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 1st 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. LongView Wealth Management raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the first quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $856,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $502,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,247 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $648,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Monterey Private Wealth Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. now owns 1,379 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $670,000 after acquiring an additional 24 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.