Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) PT Lowered to $520.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target cut by Barclays from $550.00 to $520.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Raymond James decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a strong-buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a market outperform rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of 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 firm 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. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $494.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $404.85. 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 issued 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 business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total value of $287,381.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. S.A. Mason LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the first quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $513,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the first quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 435 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $211,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. LongView Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the first quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $856,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Madison Wealth Partners Inc grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $502,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.