Cantor Fitzgerald Cuts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $624.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target cut by Cantor Fitzgerald from $790.00 to $624.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ FY2025 earnings at $22.64 EPS.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $684.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $501.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $608.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $606.80. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.22, for a total value of $489,253.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,096,741.18. This represents a 3.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total value of $22,515,282.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 379,901 shares of company stock valued at $260,806,516 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. 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.