Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Cut to $480.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective cut by equities researchers at Wedbush from $570.00 to $480.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Wedbush’s price target indicates a potential upside of 8.28% from the company’s previous close. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q3 2024 earnings at $4.43 EPS.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on META. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average 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. The stock has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $494.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $404.27. 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 has a 52 week low of $229.85 and a 52 week high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm 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 32.37%. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. 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 corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $11,285,855,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,752,900,000 after buying an additional 4,908,251 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,695,722,000 after buying an additional 4,440,229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after buying an additional 3,888,308 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.