TD Cowen Cuts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $530.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective lowered by equities researchers at TD Cowen from $590.00 to $530.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. TD Cowen’s price target suggests a potential upside of 19.56% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on META. UBS Group decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Citigroup upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ META opened at $443.29 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $229.85 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The company has a 50-day moving average of $494.48 and a 200-day moving average of $404.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The company has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559 over the last ninety days. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $44,000. 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 worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. 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.