Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its price target reduced by Jefferies Financial Group from $810.00 to $725.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the social networking company's stock.
Several other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $718.55.
Read Our Latest Report on META
Meta Platforms Stock Down 6.4 %
META traded down $37.15 during trading on Monday, reaching $546.78. 20,765,628 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,317,717. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $653.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $610.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms
In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $611.10, for a total value of $21,951,323.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 584,113 shares of company stock valued at $385,838,234. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms
Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,162,918,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
About Meta Platforms
(
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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.
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