Citigroup Has Lowered Expectations for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective decreased by research analysts at Citigroup from $780.00 to $655.00 in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective points to a potential upside of 25.59% from the company’s previous close.

META has been the topic of a number of other reports. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Mizuho raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $690.79.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $521.52 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market cap of $1.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $621.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $608.54.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $613.85, for a total value of $22,050,105.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 414,293 shares of company stock valued at $282,029,046. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.9% in the first quarter. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,023 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $590,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Davis Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. Davis Investment Partners LLC now owns 401 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $213,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Members Wealth LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Members Wealth LLC now owns 1,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $772,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 100.6% during the 1st quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 12,498 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,203,000 after buying an additional 6,268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sagace Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 104.0% in the 1st quarter. Sagace Wealth Management LLC now owns 816 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $470,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.