Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $520.00 Price Target at Barclays

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

META has been the topic of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a buy rating on the stock 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 on the stock in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META traded down $4.03 during trading on Thursday, hitting $437.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,127,395 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,199,652. 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 has a twelve month low of $229.85 and a twelve month high of $531.49. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $495.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $403.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.37% and a net margin of 32.06%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Members Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $267,000. Legacy Bridge LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Legacy Bridge LLC now owns 891 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 230.6% during the first quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong now owns 161,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $78,421,000 after purchasing an additional 112,652 shares during the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.8% during the first quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 8,424 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,090,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 39.0% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 49,537 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,121,000 after purchasing an additional 13,893 shares during 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.