Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Cut to $535.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price decreased by Truist Financial from $550.00 to $535.00 in a report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Benchmark reiterated a hold rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Susquehanna upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META traded down $4.03 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $437.35. The stock had a trading volume of 18,127,395 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,199,652. 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 $495.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $403.40. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $229.85 and a 12-month high of $531.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.37% and a net margin of 32.06%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued 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 presently 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559 in the last quarter. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,104,550 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,469,906,000 after acquiring an additional 927,491 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,719 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.