Wedbush Trims Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Target Price to $480.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target decreased by Wedbush from $570.00 to $480.00 in a research report report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q3 2024 earnings at $4.43 EPS.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on META. Citigroup raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Wolfe Research cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $443.29 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $229.85 and a one year high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.68. The business has a fifty day moving average of $494.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $404.85. The company has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a P/E 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 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total value of $287,381.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total value of $287,381.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 2,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $958,392.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,053 shares in the company, valued at $4,757,883.84. 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 90 days. 13.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the 3rd 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 raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% during the 3rd 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 acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.