Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $535.00 Price Target at Truist Financial

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target trimmed by Truist Financial from $550.00 to $535.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One investment 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $443.29 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $494.48 and a 200-day moving average of $405.39. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $229.85 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given 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 dividend yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,277,048 shares of company stock valued at $620,679,759 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,469,906,000 after purchasing an additional 927,491 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,890,950,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,719 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.