Royal Bank of Canada Lowers Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $570.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target decreased by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $600.00 to $570.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target suggests a potential upside of 28.58% from the company’s previous close.

META has been the topic of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Raymond James cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus 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 quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $229.85 and a one year high of $531.49. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $494.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $404.27. The stock has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.37% and a net margin of 32.06%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. 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 in the last three months. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Treasure Coast Financial Planning acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth $203,000. Finer Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.3% in the first quarter. Finer Wealth Management Inc. now owns 13,558 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,583,000 after buying an additional 437 shares during the period. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the first quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,128,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 63.3% in the first quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 25,842 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,548,000 after buying an additional 10,020 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.4% in the first quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP now owns 4,543 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,206,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.