Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Cut to $525.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective dropped by research analysts at Raymond James from $550.00 to $525.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “strong-buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Raymond James’ price target indicates a potential upside of 18.43% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on META. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $443.29 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $494.48 and a 200 day moving average of $404.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $229.85 and a 12-month high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its 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 analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.37%. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was 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 $39,015,070.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total value of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,288,255. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. 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 during the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the first quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the first quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 435 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. LongView Wealth Management grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the first quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $856,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Madison Wealth Partners Inc grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the fourth 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. 79.91% of the stock is currently 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.