Bank of America Has Lowered Expectations for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price decreased by analysts at Bank of America from $765.00 to $640.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 25.38% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $790.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price target (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $710.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $510.45 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.34, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $638.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $609.42. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 498,899 shares of company stock valued at $333,868,573. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. 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.