Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) PT Lowered to $530.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective cut by TD Cowen from $590.00 to $530.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on META. JMP Securities restated a market outperform rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned 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.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

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

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were 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. Insiders sold a total of 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559 over the last ninety days. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 65.2% during the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is 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.