Meta Platforms’ (META) Underperform Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their underperform rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a report published on Monday,Benzinga reports.

META has been the subject of several other reports. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $655.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $676.49 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $608.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $563.58. The company has a market capitalization of $1.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $387.10 and a twelve month high of $682.58.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total value of $234,410.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,842,668.52. This trade represents a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 661,312 shares of company stock worth $407,377,422. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. 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.