The Goldman Sachs Group Lowers Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $500.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target reduced by equities research analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $555.00 to $500.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 1.32% from the company’s current price.

META has been the subject of several other research reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $518.18.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $493.50 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $207.13 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $495.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $403.14.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.18, for a total transaction of $245,578.20. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,089 shares in the company, valued at $3,552,865.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.18, for a total value of $245,578.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,552,865.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock valued at $657,034,449. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.