Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Cut to $520.00

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

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a market outperform rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research 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 issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of META stock opened at $443.29 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $229.85 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $494.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $405.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The company has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid 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 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $404.00, for a total value of $228,664.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 34,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,026,880. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,277,048 shares of company stock worth $620,679,759. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Clear Investment Research LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.