Wolfe Research Cuts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $500.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price trimmed by Wolfe Research from $530.00 to $500.00 in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the topic of several other reports. Truist Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 10.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $441.38 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The stock 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 has a 1-year low of $208.88 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $495.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $403.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. S.A. Mason LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $513,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 435 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $211,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. LongView Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $856,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Madison Wealth Partners Inc raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.