Jefferies Financial Group Trims Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Target Price to $540.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective lowered by Jefferies Financial Group from $585.00 to $540.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the topic of a number of other reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Roth Mkm reissued a buy rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Needham & Company LLC reissued an underperform rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $443.29 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $229.85 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $494.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $404.85. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors 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 yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.3% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 10,747 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,226,000 after buying an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 28.0% during the third quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,130 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 21.7% during the third quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $530,000 after buying an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.3% during the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 7,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,203,000 after buying an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richelieu Gestion SA grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 29.1% during the third quarter. Richelieu Gestion SA now owns 2,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $779,000 after buying an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. 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.