Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Cut to $575.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price cut by UBS Group from $610.00 to $575.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reissued a market outperform rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Mizuho upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $441.38 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $495.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $403.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $208.88 and a one year high of $531.49. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The company 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 32.37% and a net margin of 32.06%. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Meta Platforms 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 value of $7,751,361.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559. 13.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. S.A. Mason LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $513,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 435 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $211,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. LongView Wealth Management increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $856,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Madison Wealth Partners Inc increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $502,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. 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.