Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Lowered to $555.00 at KeyCorp

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective cut by KeyCorp from $575.00 to $555.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $385.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of META stock opened at $481.73 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $207.13 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $494.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $401.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.00 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $395.00, for a total transaction of $1,777,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,796,825. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.36, for a total transaction of $7,722,037.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $395.00, for a total transaction of $1,777,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 75,435 shares in the company, valued at $29,796,825. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,391,935 shares of company stock worth $666,288,408 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after acquiring an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Stockton increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Signify Wealth bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $79,212,000 after purchasing an additional 4,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,880,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is 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.