Sanford C. Bernstein Lowers Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $565.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price trimmed by Sanford C. Bernstein from $590.00 to $565.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Benchmark restated a hold rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a strong-buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $443.29 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.67. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $229.85 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $494.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $405.39.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at $18,288,255. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 34,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.52, for a total transaction of $15,737,772.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,288,255. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,277,048 shares of company stock worth $620,679,759. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in 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 boosted its holdings in 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 Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,978 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $12,296,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,719 shares during the period. 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.