Truist Financial Has Lowered Expectations for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its price objective reduced by Truist Financial from $770.00 to $700.00 in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company's stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $685.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Two equities research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $684.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META traded down $0.83 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $501.48. The company had a trading volume of 14,540,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,787,586. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $608.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $606.80. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $255,234.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 16,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,057,950. The trade was a 2.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 379,901 shares of company stock worth $260,806,516. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $23,606,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.