Jefferies Financial Group Trims Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Target Price to $540.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target reduced by Jefferies Financial Group from $585.00 to $540.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on META. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Benchmark reissued a hold rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $443.29 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.67. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $229.85 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $494.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $404.85. The stock has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 68,935 shares in the company, valued at $27,574,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 68,935 shares in the company, valued at $27,574,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

About Meta Platforms

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.