Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) PT Lowered to $500.00 at Robert W. Baird

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target trimmed by Robert W. Baird from $525.00 to $500.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. UBS Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. JMP Securities reissued a market outperform rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. 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 report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $443.29 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $229.85 and a twelve month high of $531.49. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $494.48 and its 200-day moving average is $404.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,104,550 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,469,906,000 after buying an additional 927,491 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after buying an additional 1,083,719 shares in 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.