Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $500.00 Price Target at Robert W. Baird

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price lowered by Robert W. Baird from $525.00 to $500.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Roth Mkm restated a buy rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, March 18th. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

META opened at $443.29 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $494.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $404.85. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a PEG 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 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $404.00, for a total transaction of $228,664.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,026,880. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $404.00, for a total value of $228,664.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 34,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,026,880. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after purchasing an additional 32,423 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Stockton increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Signify Wealth purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $79,212,000 after purchasing an additional 4,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.