Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) PT Lowered to $540.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective decreased by equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $585.00 to $540.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price suggests a potential upside of 9.42% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $513.43.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $493.50 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $207.13 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The company’s 50 day moving average is $495.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $403.14. The company has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were 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 approximately $8,723,496.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock worth $657,034,449 over the last three months. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 worth $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,469,906,000 after purchasing an additional 927,491 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after buying an additional 1,083,719 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.