Guggenheim Trims Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Target Price to $500.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective reduced by Guggenheim from $520.00 to $500.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the topic of several other reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Wedbush decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 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 given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $443.29 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $494.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $404.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $229.85 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.18, for a total transaction of $245,578.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,552,865.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its stake 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 during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,000. Clear Investment Research LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.